1I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!” 2Then a white horse appeared, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
3When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4Another came out, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.
5When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come and see!” And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. 6I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”
7When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see!” 8And behold, a pale horse, and the name of he who sat on it was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.
9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. 10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
12I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. 13The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. 14The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. 16They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
The third seal judgment brought famine by the rider on a black horse with a pair of scales in his hand.
This seal judgment begins like the others with Jesus breaking the seal and another of the four creatures crying out, “Come!” The command to “behold” indicates that this part of the vision is significant. The next horse is black, and its rider is described as having a balance in his hand. Nothing more is said of him. The balance is a merchant’s scale.
The voice that speaks next is not one of the four creatures but is described as coming from the “middle” of the creatures, thus from one member of the Godhead. Since John did not say it came from the throne itself, Jesus is likely speaking.
The unit of measure, called a choinix (χοῖνιξ), often translated as “a quart,” was somewhere between a quart and a liter in volume. It was the amount of grain a single adult would eat in a day. A denarius was a day’s wages. Wheat was the preferred grain. However, the poor could buy three times the volume of barley for the same price. Oil and wine were also staples of life.
The point of the declaration is that starvation will follow conflict. This seal is the natural consequence of the previous seal. As conflict grows, agriculture will cease, and the food supply will be adversely affected.