The opening interjection Behold is a way of calling the attention of the reader to what follows. Revised Standard Version often translates the same Greek command elsewhere in Revelation by the archaic English term “Lo!” It may be translated “Look” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), or “See” (An American Translation, Phillips), or “Pay attention” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Some translations do not have a distinct word to represent it (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). But in a number of Asian and African languages where particles such as this are an essential part of discourse, translators should use an appropriate particle here as an attention-getter. And in certain languages it is more natural style for commands such as this to employ a first person inclusive plural pronoun; for example, “Let us look….”
He is coming with the clouds: the subject is Jesus Christ, and this will need to be made explicit in many languages. The figure of “coming with the clouds” goes back to Dan 7.13 and appears a number of times in the Gospels (Matt 24.30; 26.64; Mark 13.26; 14.62), “with (upon, in) the clouds”; Luke 21.27 has “in a cloud.” This describes the return of the glorified Christ to the world, and the clouds are, so to speak, his means of transportation (see Psa 104.3b). The present tense “he comes” describes the event as taking place in the immediate future; the translation should not say he is coming now, at the time of this event. Translators need to decide which preposition, “with” or “upon,” is more natural in their languages.
Every eye will see him, every one who pierced him: these words reflect Zech 12.10. The statement “Everyone will see him” is followed in the Greek by “and those who pierced him.” Here the Greek “and” serves to mark an explanation, emphasizing in particular one group that will see him. Most translations have “even those who…” (New International Version, New American Bible, Revised, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, New Revised Standard Version, Bible en français courant); Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation have “including those who…,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “especially those who….” In certain languages it will be necessary to render this phrase as “all those people who….” The verb “to pierce” means here to put to death by the thrust of a sword or a spear. John 19.34 describes how the Roman soldier pierced the side of Jesus with his spear, but uses a different verb from the one used here. At John 19.37, however, the quotation from Zech 12.10 has the same verb for “pierce” that is used here (the verb appears nowhere else in the New Testament). The figure here is used of those responsible for Jesus’ death, either the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem or the Roman authorities, or all of them. In many languages it will be necessary to make explicit the instrument used in the “piercing” and say, for example, “all those who had (caused) him (to be) pierced with a spear” or “all those who caused people to kill him by piercing him with a spear.”
All tribes of the earth will wail on account of him: this is a way of speaking of all the inhabitants of the world: “all the peoples of the world” (Revised English Bible). Here wail means to weep loudly, but it is not clear whether the weeping is caused by remorse or repentance over what they did, or by fear or despair over what is about to happen. Commentators are divided on the question, and most translations are not specific. Commentators who prefer the idea of fear or despair point to 18.9 and Matt 24.30, and this is probably the meaning intended. Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible “mourn over him” represents sorrow; Revised English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Barclay have “lament in remorse.” One may also say “weep over (or, because of) him with a loud voice.”
Even so. Amen. This is a double confirmation, using the Greek term nai, “yes,” “indeed,” and the Hebrew term ʾamen. In certain languages this double affirmation may be expressed as “It will be like this for sure. So be it!”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .