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REV 6:7-8

The Fourth Seal: Death

7And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living being saying: 'Come!'

8And I looked, and behold — a pale horse. And the one seated on it — his name was Death. And Hades was following close behind him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword and by famine and by plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

In the world it was spoken into

In the Roman imperial context, the imagery of the pale horse and its rider, Death, would evoke the pervasive fear of mortality and the fragility of life in the 1st century. Epidemics, famine, and violence were common realities, especially in urban centers where overcrowding and poor sanitation made disease rampant. The mention of Hades as a personified entity following Death reflects Greco-Roman and Jewish conceptions of the underworld as an active, consuming force. The authority given to kill by sword, famine, plague , and wild beasts mirrors the apocalyptic language of Jewish texts like Ezekiel and Jeremiah, where such calamities signify divine judgment. The pale horse’s sickly hue would resonate with listeners as a symbol of decay and impending doom, reinforcing the passage’s theme of widespread destruction. This imagery would have been understood as a divine reckoning, echoing the eschatological expectations of Jewish apocalyptic literature and the Roman fear of cosmic disorder.

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How other translations render this

REV 6:7

KJV
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
BSB
And when the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
Koinōnos
And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living being saying: 'Come!

REV 6:8

KJV
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
BSB
Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its riderʼs name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.
Koinōnos
And I looked, and behold — a pale horse. And the one seated on it — his name was Death. And Hades was following close behind him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword and by famine and by plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Only verses where the wording diverges meaningfully are shown. Identical phrasings are suppressed.

Translator's notes

REV 6:8

  • pale:The word translated 'pale' literally means green or greenish-yellow, often referring to the sickly pallor of a corpse or a plant that is withering.
  • Hades:The term 'Hades' refers to the underworld or the realm of the dead, conceived as a place where the spirits of the departed reside, not necessarily a place of torment.
  • plague:The word translated 'plague' is the common term for 'death' itself, indicating that death is one of the means by which the fourth horseman brings destruction.
  • beasts:The word translated 'beasts' specifically refers to wild, untamed animals, often predatory, rather than domesticated creatures.