Discovery BoxRevelation 14:14-16 
Context14:14 Then 1 I looked, and a white cloud appeared, 2 and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man! 3 He had 4 a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 14:15 Then 5 another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use 6 your sickle and start to reap, 7 because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!” 14:16 So 8 the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
2 tn Grk “and behold, a white cloud.”
3 tn This phrase constitutes an allusion to Dan 7:13. Concerning υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (Juio" tou anqrwpou), BDAG 1026 s.v. υἱός 2.d.γ says: “ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου lit. ‘the son of the man’…‘the human being, the human one, the man’…On Israelite thought contemporary w. Jesus and alleged knowledge of a heavenly being looked upon as a ‘Son of Man’ or ‘Man’, who exercises Messianic functions such as judging the world (metaph., pictorial passages in En 46-48; 4 Esdr 13:3, 51f)…Outside the gospels: Ac 7:56…Rv 1:13; 14:14 (both after Da 7:13…).” The term “son” here in this expression is anarthrous and as such lacks specificity. Some commentators and translations take the expression as an allusion to Daniel 7:13 and not to “the son of man” found in gospel traditions (e.g., Mark 8:31; 9:12; cf. D. E. Aune, Revelation [WBC], 2:800-801; cf. also NIV). Other commentators and versions, however, take the phrase “son of man” as definite, involving allusions to Dan 7:13 and “the son of man” gospel traditions (see G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 771-72; NRSV).
4 tn Grk “like a son of man, having.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence.
5 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
6 tn Grk “Send out.”
7 tn The aorist θέρισον (qerison) has been translated ingressively.
8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s directions.
