1:2 The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. 3
1:9 Then I asked one nearby, “What are these, sir?” The angelic messenger 4 who replied to me said, “I will show you what these are.”
15:3 The eyes of the Lord 5 are in every place,
keeping watch 6 on those who are evil and those who are good.
5:6 Then 7 I saw standing in the middle of the throne 8 and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. 9 He had 10 seven horns and seven eyes, which 11 are the seven 12 spirits of God 13 sent out into all the earth.
1 sn The stem used here (Hitpael) with the verb “walk” (הָלַךְ, halakh) suggests the exercise of dominion (cf. Gen 13:17; Job 1:7; 2:2-3; Ezek 28:14; Zech 6:7). The
2 sn The angel of the
3 tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB); NIV “forefathers” (also in vv. 4, 5).
4 tn Heb “messenger” or “angel” (מַלְאָךְ, mal’akh). This being appears to serve as an interpreter to the prophet (cf. vv. 13, 14).
5 sn The proverb uses anthropomorphic language to describe God’s exacting and evaluating knowledge of all people.
6 tn The form צֹפוֹת (tsofot, “watching”) is a feminine plural participle agreeing with “eyes.” God’s watching eyes comfort good people but convict evil.
7 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
8 tn Perhaps, “in the middle of the throne area” (see L&N 83.10).
9 tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.” The phrase behind this translation is ὡς ἐσφαγμένον (Jw" ejsfagmenon). The particle ὡς is used in Greek generally for comparison, and in Revelation it is used often to describe the appearance of what the author saw. This phrase does not imply that the Lamb “appeared to have been killed” but in reality was not, because the wider context of the NT shows that in fact the Lamb, i.e., Jesus, was killed. See 13:3 for the only other occurrence of this phrase in the NT.
10 tn Grk “killed, having.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he.”
11 sn The relative pronoun which is masculine, referring back to the eyes rather than to the horns.
12 tc There is good ms evidence for the inclusion of “seven” (ἑπτά, Jepta; Ì24 א 2053 2351 ÏK). There is equally good ms support for the omission of the term (A 1006 1611 ÏA pc). It may have been accidentally added due to its repeated presence in the immediately preceding phrases, or it may have been intentionally added to maintain the symmetry of the phrases or more likely to harmonize the phrase with 1:4; 3:1; 4:5. Or it may have been accidentally deleted by way of homoioteleuton (τὰ ἑπτά, ta Jepta). A decision is difficult in this instance. NA27 also does not find the problem easy to solve, placing the word in brackets to indicate doubts as to its authenticity.
13 sn See the note on the phrase the seven spirits of God in Rev 4:5.