8:1 Sound the alarm! 6
An eagle 7 looms over the temple of the Lord!
For they have broken their covenant with me, 8
and have rebelled against my law.
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.”
1 tn Heb “and it will be in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
2 tn Traditionally, “great” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT); CEV “loud.”
3 tn Or “the ones perishing.”
4 tn Or “the ones driven into.”
5 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
6 tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”
7 tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”
9 tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).
10 tn Concerning the phrase κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ (kuriakh Jhmera) BDAG 576 s.v. κυριακός states: “pert. to belonging to the Lord, the Lord’s…κ. ἡμέρᾳ the Lord’s day (Kephal. I 192, 1; 193, 31…) i.e. certainly Sunday (so in Mod. Gk….) Rv 1:10 (WStott, NTS 12, ’65, 70-75).”
11 tn The conjunction καί (kai) is not introducing a coordinate thought, but one that is logically subordinate to the main verb ἐγενόμην (egenomhn).
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.