Revelation 4

The throne in heaven

¹After these things I saw, and behold, an open door in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, said: Come up here, and I will show you the things that must happen after these things.^•

²Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and on the throne One seated;^•³and He who was seated was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and around the throne there was a rainbow like an emerald in appearance.^•⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones twenty-four elders seated, clothed in white garments, and on their heads golden crowns.^•⁵From the throne come flashes of lightning, and voices, and thunders; and seven torches of fire burn before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God;^•⁶and before the throne, something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.^•⁷The first living creature was like a lion; and the second living creature like a young bull; and the third living creature had a face like that of a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.^•

⁸The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within; and they have no rest, day and night, saying:^•

Holy, holy, holy,^•the Lord God, the Almighty,^•He Who Was, and Who Is, and Who Is Coming.^•

⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, and honor, and thanksgiving to Him who is seated on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,^•¹⁰the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who is seated on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying:^•

¹¹Worthy are You, our Lord and God,^•to receive the glory, and the honor, and the power,^•for You created all things,^•and because of Your will they existed and were created.^•

Notes

4:1 “After these things”: Gr. μετὰ ταῦτα, as in 1:19; “the things that must happen” takes up 1:1. The SBLGNT punctuates the second “after these things” as the start of 4:2 (“After these things, immediately I was in the Spirit”); the punctuation followed here is that of the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus (without their “and” at the start of 4:2). “Like a trumpet”: cf. 1:10; Ex 19:16–20. ↩
4:2 “I was”: Gr. ἐγενόμην, as in 1:10. “One seated”: cf. 1 Kgs 22:19; Isa 6:1; Ezek 1:26; Dan 7:9. ↩
4:3 “Jasper… sardius”: Gr. ἴασπις and σάρδιον, stones of uncertain identification (cf. 21:11, 19–20). “Rainbow”: cf. Gen 9:13; Ezek 1:28. Variant: the Byzantine text omits “and He who was seated”. ↩
4:4 “Elders”: Gr. πρεσβύτεροι. “Clothed”: Gr. περιβάλλω, lit. “to throw around”, as in 3:5. “Crowns”: Gr. στέφανος (cf. 2:10). ↩
4:5 “Voices”: Gr. φωναί, also “rumblings” (cf. Ex 19:16, Heb. קֹלֹת‎; Rev 8:5; 11:19; 16:18). “Torches”: Gr. λαμπάδες (cf. 8:10; Ezek 1:13; cf. the seven lamps of Zech 4:2). “Seven Spirits”: cf. 1:4. ↩
4:6 “Sea of glass”: cf. 15:2; Ezek 1:22. “Living creatures”: Gr. ζῷα, lit. “living beings”; cf. Ezek 1:5, Heb. חַיּוֹת‎. ↩
4:7 Cf. Ezek 1:10. “Young bull”: Gr. μόσχος. ↩
4:8 Cf. Isa 6:2–3. “He Who Was, and Who Is, and Who Is Coming”: the formula of 1:4, 8, here with “Was” first. “They have no rest, day and night”: the same expression as in 14:11. ↩
4:9 “Whenever… give”: Gr. ὅταν with the future, a repeated action. “Him who lives forever and ever”: cf. 1:18; 10:6; 15:7; Dan 4:34 (Aram. 4:31); 12:7. ↩
4:10 “Will fall down”: Gr. πίπτω, lit. “fall”; before God, prostration in worship (cf. 1:17). “Will worship”: Gr. προσκυνέω, “worship” because the object is God (contrast 3:9, “bow down”). “Will cast”: Gr. βάλλω. ↩
4:11 “Created”: Gr. κτίζω (cf. “creation”, 3:14). “Because of Your will”: Gr. διὰ τὸ θέλημά σου. Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “Worthy are You, O Lord” (without “and our God”) and “they are and were created”; the Byzantine text adds “the Holy One” after “our Lord and God”. ↩