1After this I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven. The first voice I had heard was like a trumpet speaking with me. It said, "Come up here, and I will show you the things that must happen after this."
2At once I was in the Spirit. Look, a throne stood in heaven, and someone was sitting on the throne.
3The one who sat there looked like jasper and sardine stone. Around the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.
4Around the throne were twenty-four seats. On the seats I saw twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white clothes, with crowns of gold on their heads.
5Out of the throne came flashes of lightning and thunder and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning in front of the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6In front of the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and behind.
7The first creature was like a lion. The second creature was like a calf. The third creature had a face like a man. The fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
8Each of the four creatures had six wings, and they were full of eyes all around and within. Day and night they never rest, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
9Those creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives for ever and ever.
10And when they do, the twenty-four elders fall down before the one who sits on the throne. They worship him who lives for ever and ever, and they throw their crowns down in front of the throne, saying,
11"You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power. For you created all things, and it was for your pleasure that they exist and were created."