Revelation 1:14-16

1:14 His ¹  head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, ²  and his eyes were like a fiery ³  flame. 1:15 His feet were like polished bronze ⁴  refined ⁵  in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar ⁶  of many waters. 1:16 He held ⁷  seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His ⁸  face shone like the sun shining at full strength.

---

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn The clause, “even as white as snow” seems to heighten the preceding clause and is so understood in this ascensive sense (“even”) in the translation.

³ tn The genitive noun πυρός (puros) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

⁴ tn The precise meaning of the term translated “polished bronze” (χαλκολιβάνῳ, calkolibanw), which appears nowhere else in Greek literature outside of the book of Revelation (see 2:18), is uncertain. Without question it is some sort of metal. BDAG 1076 s.v. χαλκολίβανον suggests “fine brass/bronze.” L&N 2.57 takes the word to refer to particularly valuable or fine bronze, but notes that the emphasis here and in Rev 2:18 is more on the lustrous quality of the metal.

⁵ tn Or “that has been heated in a furnace until it glows.”

⁶ tn Grk “sound,” but the idea is closer to the roar of a waterfall or rapids.

⁷ tn Grk “and having.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but because contemporary English style employs much shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he.”

⁸ tn This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation.