SIL Translator’s Notes on Revelation 16:8

Paragraph 16:8–9

16:8a

fourth: The word fourth refers to the next item after three other things. If counted, this item would be counted as number four. See how you translated this word in 4:7 or 8:12.

16:8b

it was given power: The Greek clause is literally “it was given to it” (as in the New American Standard Bible). It refers to receiving authority or power to do something. God gave to the sun the ability to burn people as fire burns people. For example:

it was permitted (NET Bible)

The clause is passive. Some languages must use an active or intransitive clause. For example:

God⌋ gave power to the sun
-or-

God⌋ caused the sun to have the power

it received the ability/power
-or-
it now had the ability/power

Your translation should indicate or imply that someone gave the authority.

to scorch the people with fire: This phrase indicates that the sun became so hot that it hurt people on the earth. For example:

to burn people with its fiery heat (Good News Translation)

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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