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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 6

1 I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, “Come!” 2 So I looked, and here came a white horse!⁠ The one who rode it had a bow, and he was given a crown, and as a conqueror he rode out to conquer. 3 Then when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4 And another horse, fiery red, came out, and the one who rode it was granted permission to take peace from the earth so that people would butcher one another, and he was given a huge sword. 5 Then when the Lamb opened the third seal I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” So I looked, and here came a black horse! The one who rode it had a balance scale in his hand. 6 Then I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat will cost a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley will cost a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil and the wine!” 7 Then when the Lamb opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” 8 So I looked and here came a pale green horse! The name of the one who rode it was Death, and Hades followed right behind.⁠ They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, famine, and disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.⁠ 9 Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed⁠ because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.⁠ 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”⁠ 11 Each of them was given a long white robe,⁠ and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.⁠ 12 Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red;⁠ 13 and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind.⁠ 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.⁠ 16 They said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,⁠ 17 because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 86:3 and Revelation 6:13

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation 6 describes stars falling from heaven, a form of apocalyptic imagery also found in 1 Enoch 86, where the stars descend to earth. Both texts follow ancient cosmology that thought the stars were divine beings.

Passages

1 Enoch 86:3

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 Again I watched with my eyes as I slept, and I saw the heavens above, and a star fell from heaven, and it rose and ate and grazed among those oxen. 2 After that I saw the large and the black oxen, and they all changed their stalls and their pastures and their herds, and began to live together. 3 Again I saw in the vision, and looked toward the heavens, and I saw many stars come down and cast themselves from heaven to that first star, and they turned into bulls among those cattle and grazed with them. 4 I watched them and saw that they all exposed their genitals, like horses, and began to mate with the cows of the oxen, and they all became pregnant and bore elephants, camels, and donkeys. 5 All the oxen were afraid of them and were terrified by them, and began to bite with their teeth and to devour, and to gore with their horns.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Revelation 6:13

New Testament
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a long white robe, and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been. 12 Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; 13 and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... the notion of “falling stars” for supernatural powers in rebellion is a common one in contemporary apocalyptic literature (1 Enoch 18:13; 21:3; 46:7; 86:3; 88:3; 90:21). Nickelsburg comments on 1 Enoch 86:3 in this regard ... Isaiah 34:1–4 describes the fall of both human enemies of the nations as well as “their host.” This juxtaposition and the certainty that the Hebrew phrase points to celestial objects leads some scholars to conclude that the passage describes an eschatological judgment that includes the gods of the nations, akin to Psalm 82. in light of these observations, it is unwise to assume that what John describes in Revelation 6:13–14 is a meteor shower, a near earth asteroid impact, or some other literal astronomical cataclysm ..."
Michael S. Heiser, The Old Testament in Revelation: Notes from the Naked Bible Podcast (Naked Bible, 2021), 127–128.

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 86:3 and Revelation 6:13

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