Revelation 1:4

1:4 From John, ¹  to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: ²  Grace and peace to you ³  from “he who is,” ⁴  and who was, and who is still to come, ⁵  and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

Revelation 3:9

3:9 Listen! ⁶  I am going to make those people from the synagogue ⁷  of Satan – who say they are Jews yet ⁸  are not, but are lying – Look, I will make ⁹  them come and bow down ¹⁰  at your feet and acknowledge ¹¹  that I have loved you.

Revelation 4:1

The Amazing Scene in Heaven

4:1 After these things I looked, and there was ¹²  a door standing open in heaven! ¹³  And the first voice I had heard speaking to me ¹⁴  like a trumpet ¹⁵  said: “Come up here so that ¹⁶  I can show you what must happen after these things.”

Revelation 7:14

7:14 So ¹⁷  I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” ¹⁸  Then ¹⁹  he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They ²⁰  have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!

Revelation 17:8

17:8 The beast you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up from the abyss ²¹  and then go to destruction. The ²²  inhabitants of the earth – all those whose names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world – will be astounded when they see that ²³  the beast was, and is not, but is to come.

Revelation 19:10

19:10 So ²⁴  I threw myself down ²⁵  at his feet to worship him, but ²⁶  he said, “Do not do this! ²⁷  I am only ²⁸  a fellow servant ²⁹  with you and your brothers ³⁰  who hold to the testimony about ³¹  Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

---

¹ tn Grk “John.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

² tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

³ tn It is probable that the ὑμῖν (Jumin) applies to both elements of the greeting, i.e., to both grace and peace.

⁴ tc The earliest and best mss (Ì^18vid א A C P 2050 al lat sy co) lack the term “God” (θεοῦ, qeou) between “from” (ἀπό, apo) and “he who is” (ὁ ὤν, Jo wn). Its inclusion, as supported by the bulk of the Byzantine witnesses, is clearly secondary and a scribal attempt to achieve two things: (1) to make explicit the referent in the passage, namely, God, and (2) to smooth out the grammar. The preposition “from” in Greek required a noun in the genitive case. But here in Rev 1:4 the words following the preposition “from” (ἀπό) are in another case, i.e., the nominative. There are two principal ways in which to deal with this grammatical anomaly. First, it could be a mistake arising from someone who just did not know Greek very well, or as a Jew, was heavily influenced by a Semitic form of Greek. Both of these unintentional errors are unlikely here. Commenting on this ExSyn 63 argues: “Either of these is doubtful here because (1) such a flagrant misunderstanding of the rudiments of Greek would almost surely mean that the author could not compose in Greek, yet the Apocalypse itself argues against this; (2) nowhere else does the Seer [i.e., John] use a nom. immediately after a preposition (in fact, he uses ἀπό 32 times with the gen. immediately following).” The passage appears to be an allusion to Exod 3:14 (in the LXX) where God refers to himself as “he who is” (ὁ ὤν), the same wording in Greek as here in Rev 1:4. Thus, it appears that John is wanting to leave the divine name untouched (perhaps to allude to God’s immutability, or as a pointer to the Old Testament as the key to unlocking the meaning of this book), irrespective of what it “looks” like grammatically. The translation has placed the “he who is” in quotation marks to indicate to the reader that the syntactical awkwardness is intentional. (For further comments, see ExSyn 63).

⁵ tn BDAG 106 s.v. ἀπό 5.d states: “The expr. εἰρήνη ἀπὸ ‘ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος’ Rv 1:4 is quite extraordinary. It may be an interpretation of the name Yahweh already current, or an attempt to show reverence for the divine name by preserving it unchanged, or simply one more of the grammatical peculiarities so frequent in Rv.”

⁶ tn Grk “behold” (L&N 91.13).

⁷ sn See the note on synagogue in 2:9.

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast between what these people claimed and what they were.

⁹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew), but in this context it has virtually the same meaning as δίδωμι (didwmi) used at the beginning of the verse. Stylistic variation like this is typical of Johannine literature.

¹⁰ tn The verb here is προσκυνήσουσιν (proskunhsousin), normally used to refer to worship.

¹¹ tn Or “and know,” “and recognize.”

¹² tn Grk “and behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

¹³ tn Or “in the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

¹⁴ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.”

¹⁵ sn The phrase speaking to me like a trumpet refers back to Rev 1:10.

¹⁶ tn The conjunction καί (kai), much like the vav-consecutive in Hebrew, appears to be introducing a final/purpose clause here rather than a coordinate clause.

¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the previous question.

¹⁸ tn Though the expression “the answer” is not in the Greek text, it is clearly implied. Direct objects in Greek were frequently omitted when clear from the context.

¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

²⁰ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²¹ tn On this term BDAG 2 s.v. ἄβυσσος 2 states, “netherworld, abyss, esp. the abode of the dead Ro 10:7 (Ps 106:26) and of demons Lk 8:31; dungeon where the devil is kept Rv 20:3; abode of the θηρίον, the Antichrist 11:7; 17:8; of ᾿Αβαδδών (q.v.), the angel of the underworld 9:11…φρέαρ τῆς ἀ. 9:1f; capable of being sealed 9:1; 20:1, 3.”

²² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²³ tn Some translations take the ὅτι (Joti) here as causal: “because he was, and is not, but is to come” (so NIV, NRSV), but it is much more likely that the subject of the ὅτι clause has been assimilated into the main clause: “when they see the beast, that he was…” = “when they see that the beast was” (so BDAG 732 s.v. ὅτι 1.f, where Rev 17:8 is listed).

²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s announcement.

²⁵ tn Grk “I fell down at his feet.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

²⁷ tn On the elliptical expression ὅρα μή (Jora mh) BDAG 720 s.v. ὁράω B.2 states: “Elliptically…ὅρα μή (sc. ποιήσῃς) watch out! don’t do that! Rv 19:10; 22:9.”

²⁸ tn The lowliness of a slave is emphasized in the Greek text with the emphatic position of σύνδουλος (sundoulo"). The use of “only” helps to bring this nuance out in English.

²⁹ tn Grk “fellow slave.” See the note on the word “servants” in v. 2.

³⁰ tn The Greek term “brother” literally refers to family relationships, but here it is used in a broader sense to connote familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a).

³¹ tn The genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) has been translated as an objective genitive here. A subjective genitive, also possible, would produce the meaning “who hold to what Jesus testifies.”