20:4 Then 7 I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. 8 I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These 9 had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They 10 came to life 11 and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
1 tn Grk “he himself.”
2 tn The Greek word for “anger” here is θυμός (qumos), a wordplay on the “passion” (θυμός) of the personified city of Babylon in 14:8.
3 tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”
4 tn Or “It has happened.”
5 tn The word “water” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
6 tn Or “as a free gift” (see L&N 57.85).
7 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
8 tn Grk “I saw thrones, and those seated on them, and judgment was given to them.” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 3 says, “judging, judgment, the κρίμα ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς authority to judge was given to them Rv 20:4.”
9 tn Grk “God, and who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “these” as subject.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
11 tn On the use of the aorist ἔζησαν (ezhsan) BDAG 425 s.v. ζάω 1.a.β says, “of dead persons who return to life become alive again: of humans in general (3 Km 17:23) Mt 9:18; Ac 9:41; 20:12; Rv 20:4, 5.”