“Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants.”
Parallel translations
- WEB saying, “Don’t harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!”
- KJV Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
- BSB “Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have sealed the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
- NKJV saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
- NASB saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The angel commands that no harm come until God's servants are sealed on their foreheads. God's people are marked as His own before judgment proceeds.
Overview
The sealing recalls Ezekiel 9, where a mark on the forehead spared the faithful from judgment. It signifies that believers belong to God and are kept safe spiritually amid the trials of the age. This divine ownership guarantees their final preservation, even if they suffer outwardly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Ezek 9:4Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
- Rev 22:4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
- Rev 9:4They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads.
- Rev 13:16He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads;
- Rev 14:1I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.
- Exod 12:13The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
- Rev 20:4I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
- Isa 26:20–21Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.
- Isa 54:17No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
- Rev 6:6I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Exod 12:23For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.
- Rev 19:2for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”
- Zeph 2:3Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger.
- Matt 24:22Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
- Isa 6:13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
- Isa 65:8Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.
- John 12:26If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
- Exod 9:4–6Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt; and nothing shall die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.”’”
- Isa 27:8In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
- Dan 3:26Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the middle of the fire.
- Dan 3:17If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
- Dan 6:16Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.
- Matt 24:31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
- Rom 6:22But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 7:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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