Apocalipse 5

ARC · Chapter 5/22

1E vi na dextra do que estava assentado sobre o throno um livro escripto por dentro e por fóra, sellado com sete sellos.

2E vi um anjo forte, apregoando com grande voz: Quem é digno de abrir o livro e de desatar os seus sellos?

3E ninguem no céu, nem na terra, nem debaixo da terra, podia abrir o livro, nem olhar para elle.

4E eu chorava muito, porque ninguem fôra achado digno de abrir o livro, nem de o lêr, nem de olhar para elle.

5E disse-me um dos anciãos: Não chores: eis aqui, o Leão da tribu de Judah, a raiz de David, que venceu, para abrir o livro e desatar os seus sete sellos.

6E olhei, e eis que no meio dos anciãos estava um Cordeiro, como havendo sido morto, e tinha sete cornos, e sete olhos, que são os sete Espiritos de Deus enviados a toda a terra.

7E veiu, e tomou o livro da dextra do que estava assentado no throno.

8E, havendo tomado o livro, os quatro animaes e os vinte e quatro anciãos prostraram-se diante do Cordeiro, tendo todos elles harpas e salvas de oiro cheias de incenso, que são as orações dos sanctos.

9E cantavam um novo cantico, dizendo: Digno és de tomar o livro, e de abrir os seus sellos; porque foste morto, e com o teu sangue para Deus nos compraste, de toda a tribu, e lingua, e povo, e nação;

10E para o nosso Deus nos fizeste reis e sacerdotes; e reinaremos sobre a terra.

11E olhei, e ouvi a voz de muitos anjos ao redor do throno, e dos animaes, e dos anciãos; e era o numero d'elles milhões de milhões, e milhares de milhares,

12Que com grande voz diziam: Digno é o Cordeiro, que foi morto, de receber o poder, e riquezas, e sabedoria, e força, e honra, e gloria, e acções de graças.

13E ouvi a toda a creatura que está no céu, e na terra, e debaixo da terra, e que está no mar, e a todas as coisas que n'elles ha, dizendo: Ao que está assentado sobre o throno, e ao Cordeiro, sejam dadas acções de graças, e honra, e gloria, e poder para todo o sempre

14E os quatro animaes diziam: Amen. E os vinte e quatro anciãos prostraram-se, e adoraram ao que vive para todo o sempre.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A scroll sealed with seven seals appears in God's hand, and no one is found worthy to open it until the Lamb appears, looking as though it had been slain, yet alive. All of heaven's creation bursts into praise of the Lamb, recognizing him as worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, and glory.

Explanation

The 'scroll sealed with seven seals' likely represents God's plans and purposes for history, something that must be 'opened' and progressively revealed throughout the chapters that follow. The book's central and most striking image appears here: the Lamb who was slain yet is alive, uniting the symbols of the Lion of Judah (power and kingship) with the sacrificed Lamb (suffering and redemption) in the same figure of Jesus. The new song sung by the heavenly beings declares that the Lamb is worthy because he was slain and with his blood purchased people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation — a vision of universal, multiethnic redemption. Today's practical application is that Christ's true power is revealed precisely through sacrifice, not in spite of it.

Fun facts

  • The combination of the image of the 'Lion of the tribe of Judah' with the 'Lamb who was slain' (5:5-6) in the same vision is considered by scholars one of the richest symbolic fusions in the entire book, uniting messianic royal strength with redemptive sacrifice in the same person of Christ.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Apocalipse 5:1Important documents of the time, such as wills or land deeds, were sealed with several seals, and only someone with legal authority could break them. A scroll sealed with seven seals shows that what is written there is something decisive, which no one yet has the right to open.
  2. Apocalipse 5:2An angel issues an open challenge: who has enough authority to open the sealed scroll and reveal its contents? The question sets up the dramatic answer that comes only a few verses later.
  3. Apocalipse 5:3No one anywhere in the universe - not in heaven, not on earth, not under it - can either open the scroll or even look inside it, a way of showing just how much authority that act would require.
  4. Apocalipse 5:4John's weeping expresses the anguish of a revelation that seems stuck, with no one worthy to access it; that tension is only resolved in the next verse.
  5. Apocalipse 5:5The two titles come from ancient prophecies, Genesis 49 and Isaiah 11, about a king who would come from the line of David. This is how the text presents Jesus for the first time in this scene: using the same royal titles Jewish readers already expected of a messiah.
  6. Apocalipse 5:6Horns were a common symbol of total strength, and the eyes here represent the Spirit of God sent to every place - nothing literal. The scene deliberately joins two images that seemed opposite: a lamb, weak and slain, and at the same time the most powerful victor in the room.
  7. Apocalipse 5:7After being presented as “Lion” and “Lamb” in the previous verses, He finally acts: He takes the scroll directly from the hand of Him who sits on the throne, resolving the impasse of verses 3 and 4.
  8. Apocalipse 5:8In temple worship, the smoke of incense rose visibly upward, which is why it became the natural image for prayers rising up to God. The text itself explains this symbol directly, saying that the incense represents the prayers of those who belong to God, leaving no doubt about it.
  9. Apocalipse 5:9The “new song” celebrates the reason the Lamb is worthy: not for military power, but for having been slain, purchasing people from “every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” - redemption language that expands to the whole world the idea of deliverance already used in Exodus for the people of Israel.
  10. Apocalipse 5:10This repeats the same expression from the greeting in chapter 1, “kings and priests,” which originally comes from Exodus 19 about Israel, now applied to this multitude redeemed from every nation.
  11. Apocalipse 5:11The scene expands with a countless number of angels around the throne, an image of a multitude that also appears in the vision of the throne in Daniel 7.
  12. Apocalipse 5:12The list of seven qualities attributed to the Lamb - power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing - mimics the kind of acclamation the Roman world gave to the emperor, only here redirected to the slain Lamb.
  13. Apocalipse 5:13The worship expands even further, including literally every creature in every place of the known universe, uniting praise to God and to the Lamb in a single celebration.
  14. Apocalipse 5:14This closes the scene with the “Amen” of the four living creatures and another act of falling down by the elders, repeating the same gesture of reverence already seen in chapter 4.

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