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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 5

1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals.⁠ 2 And I saw a powerful angel proclaiming in a loud voice: “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. 4 So I began weeping bitterly because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered;⁠ thus he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”⁠ 6 Then I saw standing in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.⁠ 7 Then he came and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne, 8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). 9 They were singing a new song:⁠ “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. 10 You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”⁠ 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. Their number was ten thousand times ten thousand—thousands times thousands—⁠ 12 all of whom were singing in a loud voice: “Worthy is the lamb who was killed to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature—in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them—singing: “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures were saying “Amen,” and the elders threw themselves to the ground and worshiped.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 90:20 and Revelation 5:1

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

1 Enoch 90 describes a throne set up in a heavenly courtroom where sealed books are opened in front of God. Revelation echoes this description of a heavenly courtroom where a scroll is unsealed in front of the throne before judgment begins.

Passages

1 Enoch 90:20

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
19 I watched until a great sword was given to the sheep, and the sheep went out against all the beasts of the field to kill them, and all the beasts and the birds of heaven fled before their face. 20 I watched until a throne was set up in the pleasant land, and the Lord of the sheep sat on it, and the other took the sealed books and opened those books before the Lord of the sheep. 21 The Lord called those men, the seven first white ones, and commanded that they should bring before Him, beginning with the first star which led the way, all the stars whose genitals were like those of horses, and they brought them all before Him. 22 He said to that man who wrote before Him, who was one of those seven white ones, and said to him: 'Take those seventy shepherds to whom I handed over the sheep, and who, taking them on their own authority, killed more than I commanded them.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 5:1

New Testament
1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and back and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a powerful angel proclaiming in a loud voice: “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. 4 So I began weeping bitterly because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; thus he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... compare 1 Enoch 90:20, 'he took all the sealed books and opened those very books in the presence of the Lord of the sheep'; 2 Baruch 24:1, 'For behold, the days are coming, and the books will be opened in which are written the sins of all those who have sinned.' ..."
Wilfrid J. Harrington, Sacra Pagina: Revelation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2008), 203.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 90:20 and Revelation 5:1

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