First ReadingRevelation 7:2-4, 9-14
From the Book of Revelation
2I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise,having the seal of the living God.He cried with a loud voice to the four angels towhom it was given to harm the earth and the sea,3saying, “Don’t harm the earth,the sea, or the trees,until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!”4I heard the number of those who were sealed,one hundred forty-four thousand,sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
verses 5–8 are not read9After these things I looked,and behold, a great multitude which no man could count,out of every nation and of all tribes,peoples, and languages,standing before the throne and before the Lamb,dressed in white robes,with palm branches in their hands.10They cried with a loud voice,saying, “Salvation be to our God,who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11All the angels were standing around the throne,the elders, and the four living creatures;and they fell on their faces before his throne,and worshiped God,12saying, “Amen!Blessing, glory, wisdom,thanksgiving, honor,power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13One of the elders answered,saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes,who are they, and where did they come from?”
14I told him, “My lord, you know.”
He said to me, “These are thosewho came out of the great suffering.They washed their robesand made them white in the Lamb’s blood.