Verse 3 is like the first part of verse 1. Revised Standard Version he opened means “the Lamb opened” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Translator’s New Testament, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).

Come!: see Rev. 6.1 for translation suggestions. It seems best to use the same expression for all four times it appears (verses 1, 3, 5, 7).

Out came: only here is this said. The text does not say where the horse came from; perhaps from near the throne or behind it. In languages that must have an object indicating the place of origin, one can say “came out from the place where the throne stood (or, was).” The riders are obviously God’s servants, carrying out his will.

Bright red: the color of fire, indicating not only combat but slaughter in combat. In certain languages translators will need to restructure this sentence in order to avoid Revised Standard Version‘s apposition; for example, “A red horse came out.”

Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth: the passive was permitted is to be understood as referring to God; God gave this rider permission to bring war on earth. The verbal phrase was permitted to translates “it was given to him to”; the “it” represents something like “power” (Good News Translation, New American Bible, Revised, Revised English Bible, Phillips, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), or “permission” (Translator’s New Testament), or “duty” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “right.” For the phrase to take peace from the earth, see Matt 10.14. The meaning may be expressed by “to bring war on earth” (Good News Translation).

So that men should slay one another: instead of men New Revised Standard Version has “people,” which is better. It may be helpful to specify this slaughter as “slay (or, kill) one another in war.” The verb used here is the one used in 5.6, but in that context it seems to imply “sacrifice.”

And he was given a great sword: again the passive refers to God or to an angel. Some languages can avoid this ambiguity by using the equivalent of “receive” and say, for example, “The one sitting on this horse (or, rider) received a large sword.” However, in the case of languages that must use an agent, translators may be ambiguous and say “and some one gave him a large sword.” In yet other languages a translator will have to choose between God or an angel. The former is the more likely. A great sword: something like “large,” “huge,” “long,” or even “heavy” is better in English than great when applied to a sword.

Alternative translation models for verse 4 are:

• And a flame colored (or, bright red) horse came out. The one riding on it received the power to cause people to fight each other on the earth, so that they should kill (or, slaughter) one another in war. The rider received a large sword (or, war knife).

Or:

• And a bright red horse came out of the place where the throne stood (or, was). God gave the one riding on it the power to cause people to fight each other on earth, so that they should kill each other in war. For this purpose God also gave this rider a large war knife.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .