And the four living creatures … are full of eyes all round and within: the main problem here is the meaning of within; it seems that what is meant is that they had eyes all over the body (verse 6b), including the underside of the wings.

Each of them with six wings: like the seraphim of Isa 6.2.

And day and night they never cease to sing: the Greek is quite vivid: “and they have no rest, day and night, saying.” Translator’s New Testament does an effective job of representing this: “Day and night, without resting, they sing.” Where a dynamic equivalent of day and night does not exist, something like “they sing all the time” or “without stopping” may be said. The Greek has “saying,” but in this liturgical context something like “singing” or “chanting” is quite appropriate. Certain languages will employ idiomatic expressions for continuous singing or talking; for example, “they sing without letting their mouths stop.”

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty: this is like the song of the seraphim in Isa 6.3. For holy see 3.7. Here it represents the separateness, the apartness, of God from all created things, with probable emphasis on the purity of God, without the flaws or sins that characterize human beings. It is recommended that the song appear in poetic style (see Section F of the introduction, “Translating the Revelation to John,” pages 6 and following).

For the translation of the phrase Lord God Almighty, see 1.8.

Who was and is and is to come: see 1.4, where the same expressions occur but in a different order.

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 .