Chapter 19
1 After these things, I heard as a loud1 voice of a huge2 multitude3 in heaven4 , saying,
“Hallelujah!5
The salvation6 , the glory, and the power of God!
2 For true and righteous are his judgements.
For he judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth in her sexual immorality7,
and he avenged the blood of his slaves by8 her hand.”
3 And they said a second time,
“Hallelujah!
And her smoke goes up forever9!”
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who is sitting on the throne, saying,
“Amen! Hallelujah!”
5 And a voice came out from the throne10, saying,
“Praise our God,
All his slaves,
[namely]11, the ones who fear him,
the small and the great!”
1 μεγάλην (loud)
Greek: “great”.
2 πολλοῦ (huge)
Greek: “much”.
3 We see a multitude in size and diversity, all one in the Lord.
4 The picture here is of believers praising God. “How Long?” has been answered!
5 Transliterated Hebrew. It means “Praise Yahweh!”.
Hallelujah is repeated three times in this passage, which can serve to remind us of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
6 ἡ σωτηρία (the salvation)
ἡ σωτηρία could also be translated as “the deliverance” as it depicts the victory of the believers over the powers of evil. Their deliverance is God’s as he is the one who provides the means to be delivered.
7 The reference to idolatry is present yet again. The very thing that God most detests!
8 ἐκ (by)
Greek: “from”. The bloodshed was instrumented “by” the hand of the prostitute.
9 εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων (forever)
Greek: “into the ages of ages”. It must be noted that the Kings, merchants, and the ship workers all mourn because they see smoke of the great city’s destruction. Per Beale* (Pg. 929), the passage is an allusion to Isaiah 34:9-10.
10 There is debate on who exhorts the believers to praise God. It is likely an angelic being who is in close proximity of the throne. Mounce** (Pg. 338). Whoever it is, he has the authorization to speak. Osborne*** (Pg. 666). Beale*, on the other hand, says that the voice is Christ’s. (Pg. 930).
John 12:26 tells us that wherever Christ is, we will be there as well. Revelation 3:21 promises the overcomer that he will “...sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” NASB
God’s praises will be lifted on the lips of all believers. They give witness to His Majesty and grace. Who else could give praise from the throne but Christ and those who abide in Him?
11 [καὶ] ([namely])
Greek: “and”. [καὶ] is in brackets as it may not be original to the text. If it is, then it would be translated as I have it translated. There are not two groups who are to praise God (slaves and the ones who fear him), it is one group. The praise following [καὶ] describes the slaves.
We are slaves, or servants, that have chosen to love, honor, and praise Almighty God. We become one in Him.
It is because of choice that we are able to offer love, honor, and praise. It is in His house that we find something most precious: life. In that choice we find freedom in an abundant life, of which we now only see in part.
Abbreviations
NT = New Testament
OT = Old Testament
ESV = English Standard Version
NASB = New American Standard Bible
NIV = New International Version
KJV = King James Version
TR = Textus Receptus (A late Byzantine Greek text of the NT. A
predecessor of the TR was used in the translation of the KJV)
LXX = Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT)
Bibliography
The Greek New Testament with Greek-English Dictionary B. Aland (Editor), K. Aland (Editor), J. Karavidopoulos (Editor), B. M. Metzger (Editor), C. M. Martini (Editor)
(BDAG) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition Walter Bauer (Author), Frederick William Danker (Editor)
A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament Bruce M. Metzger
(Kittel) Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (VOLUMES 1-10) Gerhard Kittel (Editor), Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Translator)
*The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.).) G. K. Beale
**The Book of Revelation (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) Robert H. Mounce
***Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) Grant R. Osborne
+Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics Daniel B. Wallace
++An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek C. F. D. Moule
+++Biblical Greek (Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici) Maximilian Zerwick
A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament Max Zerwick (Author), Mary Grosvenor (Author)
No comments:
Post a Comment