Pale Horse

The pale horse is the fourth of the apocalyptic mounts unsealed in Revelation. Its rider is named outright, and the agencies that follow him are catalogued.

The fourth seal

When the fourth seal is broken, John sees the mount and identifies its rider by name: "And I looked, and saw a pale horse: and he who sat on him, his name was Death; and Hades followed with him. And there was given to them authority over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth" (Revelation 6:8). The horse's pallor is paired with a rider whose proper name is Death, and Hades comes behind him as a second figure. Their delegated authority is bounded — "the fourth part of the earth" — and exercised through four named instruments: sword, famine, death, and the wild beasts of the earth.