Revelation 10

The angel and the little book

¹And I saw another strong Angel coming down from heaven, clothed in a cloud, and the rainbow on His head, and His face like the sun, and His feet like pillars of fire,^•²and He had in His hand an open little book. He set His right foot on the sea, and His left on the earth,^•³and He cried out with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When He cried out, the seven thunders uttered their voices.^•⁴When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven, saying: Seal up what the seven thunders have spoken, and do not write it.^•

⁵Then the Angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth raised His right hand to heaven,^•⁶and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it: There will be no more time;^•⁷but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed, as He announced the good news to His servants the prophets.^•

⁸The voice that I had heard from heaven spoke with me again, saying: Go, take the open book in the hand of the Angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth.^•⁹I went to the Angel, telling Him to give me the little book. And He says to me: Take it and devour it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.^•¹⁰I took the little book from the hand of the Angel and devoured it; in my mouth it was sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.^•¹¹And they say to me: You must prophesy again about many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.^•

Notes

10:1 “Angel”: the capital identifies this Angel with Christ; the rainbow, the face like the sun and the feet like pillars of fire recall the divine figures of 1:15–16 and 4:3 and the man clothed in linen of Dan 10:5–6; 12:7. Another reading sees here a mighty angel (cf. 5:2; 18:21). “Clothed in a cloud”: Gr. περιβάλλω (cf. 3:5). “The rainbow”: Gr. ἡ ἶρις (cf. 4:3). “His face like the sun”: cf. 1:16. “Pillars of fire”: cf. Ex 13:21. Variant: the Byzantine text omits “another”. ↩
10:2 “Little book”: Gr. βιβλαρίδιον, a diminutive of βιβλίον, “book” (cf. 5:1; 10:8); the Byzantine text reads βιβλίον. “Open”: Gr. ἠνεῳγμένον, perfect participle. ↩
10:3 “As a lion roars”: Gr. μυκᾶται, lit. “bellows” (cf. Hos 11:10; Amos 3:8). “Uttered their voices”: lit. “spoke their own voices”. “The seven thunders”: cf. Ps 29:3–9. ↩
10:4 “Seal up”: Gr. σφράγισον (cf. Dan 8:26; 12:4, 9; Rev 22:10). ↩
10:5 “Raised His right hand to heaven”: cf. Dan 12:7; Deut 32:40. Variant: the Textus Receptus omits “right”. ↩
10:6 “Him who lives forever and ever”: cf. 4:9–10. “Who created heaven… and the sea”: cf. 14:7; Ex 20:11; Neh 9:6. “There will be no more time”: Gr. ὅτι χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται, lit. “that time will be no longer”; alternative reading: “there will be no more delay”. ↩
10:7 “Will be completed”: Gr. καὶ ἐτελέσθη, aorist, lit. “and was completed”, with a future sense (cf. 15:1); the Textus Receptus reads τελεσθῇ, “should be completed”. “Mystery”: Gr. μυστήριον (cf. 1:20; 17:5, 7). “Announced the good news”: Gr. εὐηγγέλισεν (cf. 14:6; Amos 3:7). ↩
10:8 “Book”: here Gr. βιβλίον; the Textus Receptus reads βιβλαρίδιον, and the Byzantine text βιβλιδάριον, both “little book”. ↩
10:9 “Devour it”: Gr. κατάφαγε, an intensive form of “eat”. Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “saying to him: Give me the little book”. “Stomach”: Gr. κοιλία. Cf. Ezek 2:8–3:3; Jer 15:16 (Heb.); Ps 119:103. ↩
10:10 “Became bitter”: Gr. ἐπικράνθη (cf. 8:11). Variant: the Byzantine text reads βιβλίον, “book”, for “little book”. ↩
10:11 “They say to me”: plural in the Greek; the Textus Receptus reads “he says to me”. “About”: Gr. ἐπί with the dative, also “before” (in the presence of) or “against”. “Many”: in the Greek it comes after “kings” (βασιλεῦσιν πολλοῖς), but it can apply to all the terms. “Peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings”: cf. 5:9; 7:9; 17:15. ↩