Apocalypse 6:4
And there went out another horse that was red: and to him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et exivit alius equus rufus : et qui sedebat super illum, datum est ei ut sumeret pacem de terra, et ut invicem se interficiant, et datus est ei gladius magnus.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἄλλος ἵππος πυρρός, καὶ τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐδόθη αὐτῷ λαβεῖν τὴν εἰρήνην ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἵνα ἀλλήλους σφάξουσιν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ μάχαιρα μεγάλη.
Haydock's commentary
On verses 3 to 4
Opened the second seal, &c. portending wars and shedding of blood, and so he is said to have power to take away peace from the earth. (Witham)
Another red horse. This red horse signifies the cruel persecutions, which the Roman emperors carried on against the Christian religion. For this end, it is said immediately after, one sat thereon, to take peace from the earth, and kill one another; for this purpose was a great sword given to him. (Andræas; Menochius; Grotius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian On Modesty, Chapter XX
For excellently was he wont to interpret the law, and keep its figures even in (the dispensation of) the Truth itself. It was with a reference, in short, to this species of discipline that the caution was taken in the case of the leper: “But if the speckled appearance shall have become efflorescent over the skin, and shall have covered the whole skin from the head even unto the feet through all the visible surface, then the priest, when he shall have seen, shall utterly cleanse him: since he hath wholly turned into white he is clean. …
St Victorinus of Pettau Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, From the sixth chapter
3, 4. “And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and to him that sat upon him was given a great sword.”] The red horse, and he that sat upon him, having a sword, signify the coming wars, as we read in the Gospel: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be great earthquakes in divers places.” This is the ruddy horse.