CHAPTER VII.

After these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth four corners of the earthA traditional expression representing the four cardinal directions—North, South, East, and West—indicating the entire world.. They were holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow on the land, the sea, or any tree.

2. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun original: "ab ortu solis," referring to the East, carrying the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given the power to harm the land and the sea,

3. saying: "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God original: "servos Dei nostri" on their foreheads."

4. And I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred and forty-four thousand sealedTo be 'sealed' implies being marked as God's own property, granting spiritual protection and identity. from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

5. Of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand were sealed.

6. Of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand were sealed.

7. Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand were sealed.

8. Of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.

9. After these things I looked, and behold, there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every