Revelation 1:8-11

1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” ¹  says the Lord God – the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come – the All-Powerful! ² 

1:9 I, John, your brother and the one who shares ³  with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that ⁴  are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. ⁵  1:10 I was in the Spirit ⁶  on the Lord’s Day ⁷  when ⁸  I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 1:11 saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, ⁹  Smyrna, ¹⁰  Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

Revelation 1:17

1:17 When ¹¹  I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but ¹²  he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,

[1:8]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.”

[1:9]  ³ tn The translation attempts to bring out the verbal idea in συγκοινωνός (sunkoinwno", “co-sharer”); John was suffering for his faith at the time he wrote this.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν ᾿Ιησοῦ (en Ihsou) could be taken with ὑπομονῇ (Jupomonh) as the translation does or with the more distant συγκοινωνός (sunkoinwno"), in which case the translation would read “your brother and the one who shares with you in Jesus in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn The phrase “about Jesus” has been translated as an objective genitive.

[1:10]  ⁶ 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).

[1:10]  ⁷ 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).”

[1:10]  ⁸ tn The conjunction καί (kai) is not introducing a coordinate thought, but one that is logically subordinate to the main verb ἐγενόμην (egenomhn).

[1:11]  ⁹ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and to Smyrna.” For stylistic reasons the conjunction καί (kai) and the preposition εἰς (eis) have not been translated before the remaining elements of the list. In lists with more than two elements contemporary English generally does not repeat the conjunction except between the next to last and last elements.

[1:17]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[1:17]  ¹² tn Here the Greek conjunction καί (kai) has been translated as a contrastive (“but”) due to the contrast between the two clauses.