Revelation 5:3-5

5:3 But ¹  no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. 5:4 So ²  I began weeping bitterly ³  because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5:5 Then ⁴  one of the elders said ⁵  to me, “Stop weeping! ⁶  Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; ⁷  thus he can open ⁸  the scroll and its seven seals.”

Revelation 5:9

5:9 They were singing a new song: ⁹ 

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals

because you were killed, ¹⁰ 

and at the cost of your own blood ¹¹  you have purchased ¹²  for God

persons ¹³  from every tribe, language, ¹⁴  people, and nation.

Job 11:10

11:10 If he comes by ¹⁵  and confines ¹⁶  you ¹⁷ 

and convenes a court, ¹⁸ 

then who can prevent ¹⁹  him?

Job 12:14

12:14 If ²⁰  he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;

if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. ²¹ 

Matthew 16:19

16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

[5:3]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[5:4]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of no one being found worthy to open the scroll.

[5:4]  ³ tn Grk “much.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

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

[5:5]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “has been victorious”; traditionally, “has overcome.”

[5:5]  ⁸ tn The infinitive has been translated as an infinitive of result here.

[5:9]  ⁹ tn The redundant participle λέγοντες (legontes) has not been translated here.

[5:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:9]  ¹¹ tn The preposition ἐν (en) is taken to indicate price here, like the Hebrew preposition ב (bet) does at times. BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 5.b states, “The ἐν which takes the place of the gen. of price is also instrumental ἠγόρασας ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου Rv 5:9 (cp. 1 Ch 21:24 ἀγοράζω ἐν ἀργυρίῳ).”

[5:9]  ¹² tc The Greek text as it stands above (i.e., the reading τῷ θεῷ [tw qew] alone) is found in codex A. א 2050 2344 Ï sy add the term “us” (ἡμᾶς, Jhmas), either before or after τῷ θεῷ, as an attempt to clarify the object of “purchased” (ἠγόρασας, hgorasa"). A few mss (1 vg^ms) delete the reference to God altogether and simply replace it with “us” (ἡμᾶς). This too is an attempt to remove ambiguity in the phrase and provide an object for “purchased.” The shorter reading, supported by the best witness for Revelation, best accounts for the other readings.

[5:9]  ¹³ tn The word “persons” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[5:9]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and language,” but 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.

[11:10]  ¹⁵ tn The verb יַחֲלֹף (yakhalof) is literally “passes by/through” (NIV “comes along” in the sense of “if it should so happen”). Many accept the emendation to יַחְתֹּף (yakhtof, “he seizes,” cf. Gordis, Driver), but there is not much support for these.

[11:10]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil of סָגַר (sagar, “to close; to shut”) and so here in this context it probably means something like “to shut in; to confine.” But this is a difficult meaning, and the sentence is cryptic. E. Dhorme (Job, 162) thinks this word and the next have to be antithetical, and so he suggests from a meaning “to keep confined” the idea of keeping a matter secret; and with the next verb, “to convene an assembly,” he offers “to divulge it.”

[11:10]  ¹⁷ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation.

[11:10]  ¹⁸ tn The denominative Hiphil of קָהָל (qahal, “an assembly”) has the idea of “to convene an assembly.” In this context there would be the legal sense of convening a court, i.e., calling Job to account (D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 255). See E. Ullendorff, “The Meaning of QHLT,” VT 12 (1962): 215; he defines the verb also as “argue, rebuke.”

[11:10]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “turn him back.” Zophar uses Job’s own words (see 9:12).

[12:14]  ²⁰ tn The use of הֵן (hen, equivalent to הִנֵּה, hinneh, “behold”) introduces a hypothetical condition.

[12:14]  ²¹ tn The verse employs antithetical ideas: “tear down” and “build up,” “imprison” and “escape.” The Niphal verbs in the sentences are potential imperfects. All of this is to say that humans cannot reverse the will of God.