4 ¹ AFTER THIS I LOOKED, and there before my eyes was a door opened in heaven; and the voice that I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must happen hereafter.' 4 ² At once I was caught up by the Spirit. There in heaven stood a throne, 4 ³ and on the throne sat one whose appearance was like the gleam of jasper and cornelian; and round the throne was a rainbow, bright as an emerald. 4 ⁴ In a circle about this throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on them sat twenty-four elders, robed in white and wearing crowns of gold. 4 ⁵ From the throne went out flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. Burning before the throne were seven flaming torches, the seven spirits of God, 4 ⁶ and in front of it stretched what seemed a sea of glass, like a sheet of ice.

In the centre, round the throne itself, were four living creatures, covered with eyes, in front and behind. 4 ^{7 [ Eze.1.5-10, Eze.10.14. ]} The first creature was like a lion, the second like an ox, the third had a human face, the fourth was like an eagle in flight. 4 ^{8 [ Is.6.2-3, Am.3.13, Am.4.13. ]} The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, had eyes all over, inside and out; and by day and by night without a pause they sang:

'Holy, holy, holy is God the sovereign Lord of all, who was, and is, and is to come! 4 ⁹ As often as the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the One who sits on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, 4 ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before the One who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; and as they lay their crowns before the throne they cry: