Revelation 4:2-3

4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, ¹  and ²  a throne was standing ³  in heaven with someone seated on it! 4:3 And the one seated on it was like jasper ⁴  and carnelian ⁵  in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald ⁶  encircled the throne.

Revelation 4:9-11

4:9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, ⁷  and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 4:10 the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground ⁸  before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns ⁹  before his ¹⁰  throne, saying:

4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

since you created all things,

and because of your will they existed and were created!” ¹¹ 

[4:2]  ¹ 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).

[4:2]  ² 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).

[4:2]  ³ tn BDAG 537 s.v. κεῖμαι 2 gives the translation “stand” for the term in this verse.

[4:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “jasper stone.”

[4:3]  ⁵ sn Carnelian was a semiprecious gemstone, usually red in color (L&N 2.36).

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Or “a rainbow emerald-like in appearance.”

[4:9]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “the twenty-four elders fall down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[4:10]  ⁹ sn See the note on the word crown in Rev 3:11.

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn The pronoun “his” is understood from the demonstrative force of the article τοῦ (tou) before θρόνου (qronou).

[4:11]  ¹¹ tc The past tense of “they existed” (ἦσαν, hsan) and the order of the expression “they existed and were created” seems backwards both logically and chronologically. The text as it stands is the more difficult reading and seems to have given rise to codex A omitting the final “they were created,” 2329 replacing “they existed” (ἦσαν) with “have come into being” (ἐγένοντο, egeneto), and 046 adding οὐκ (ouk, “not”) before ἦσαν (“they did not exist, [but were created]”). Several mss (1854 2050 Ï^A sa) also attempt to alleviate the problem by replacing ἦσαν with “they are” (εἰσιν, eisin).