Revelation 5:5-6

5:5 Then ¹  one of the elders said ²  to me, “Stop weeping! ³  Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; ⁴  thus he can open ⁵  the scroll and its seven seals.”

5:6 Then ⁶  I saw standing in the middle of the throne ⁷  and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. ⁸  He had ⁹  seven horns and seven eyes, which ¹⁰  are the seven ¹¹  spirits of God ¹²  sent out into all the earth.

[5:5]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:5]  ² tn Grk “says” (a historical present).

[5:5]  ³ tn The present imperative with μή (mh) is used here to command cessation of an action in progress (ExSyn 724 lists this verse as an example).

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Or “has been victorious”; traditionally, “has overcome.”

[5:5]  ⁵ tn The infinitive has been translated as an infinitive of result here.

[5:6]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[5:6]  ⁷ tn Perhaps, “in the middle of the throne area” (see L&N 83.10).

[5:6]  ⁸ 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.

[5:6]  ⁹ 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.”

[5:6]  ¹⁰ sn The relative pronoun which is masculine, referring back to the eyes rather than to the horns.

[5:6]  ¹¹ tc There is good ms evidence for the inclusion of “seven” (ἑπτά, Jepta; ̲⁴ א 2053 2351 Ï^K). There is equally good ms support for the omission of the term (A 1006 1611 Ï^A 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.

[5:6]  ¹² sn See the note on the phrase the seven spirits of God in Rev 4:5.