Revelation 1:7-8

1:7 (Look! He is returning with the clouds, ¹ 

and every eye will see him,

even ²  those who pierced him, ³ 

and all the tribes ⁴  on the earth will mourn because ⁵  of him.

This will certainly come to pass! ⁶  Amen.) ⁷ 

1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” ⁸  says the Lord God – the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come – the All-Powerful! ⁹ 

[1:7]  ¹ sn An allusion to Dan 7:13.

[1:7]  ² tn Here καί (kai) was translated as ascensive.

[1:7]  ³ sn An allusion to Zech 12:10.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn In this context, tribes (φυλαί, fulai) could also be translated as “nations” or “peoples” (L&N 11.56).

[1:7]  ⁵ tn The conjunction ἐπί (epi) is most likely causal here. The people who crucified him are those of every tribe on the earth and they will mourn because he comes as judge.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “Yes, Amen.” The expression “This will certainly come to pass” is an attempt to capture the force of the juxtaposition of the Greek ναί (nai) and the Hebrew ἀμήν (amhn). See L&N 69.1.

[1:7]  ⁷ sn These lines are placed in parentheses because they form an aside to the main argument.

[1:8]  ⁸ tc The shorter reading “Omega” (ὦ, w) has superior ms evidence ({א¹ A C 1611}) to the longer reading which includes “the beginning and the end” (ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος or ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος, arch kai telo" or Jh arch kai to telo"), found in א*^,2 1854 2050 2329 2351 Ï^A lat bo. There is little reason why a scribe would have deleted the words, but their clarifying value and the fact that they harmonize with 21:6 indicate that they are a secondary addition to the text.

[1:8]  ⁹ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”