14:4a
These are the ones who have not been defiled with women: This clause refers to men who have never had sexual relations with women. The word defiled is probably used in the sense of having become “ceremonially unclean.” A Jewish person could not go and worship God until the next sunset after he or she had sexual relations (Leviticus 15:18). Other ways to translate this clause are:
These men have not dishonored themselves with women
-or-
They are the men who have kept themselves pure by not having sexual relations with women (Good News Translation)
This clause may refer figuratively to all believers being pure in God’s eyes. For example:
They have kept themselves as pure (New Living Translation (2004))
But many English versions translate literally and allow the reader to decide whether to understand this clause literally or figuratively.
14:4b
for: This conjunction introduces an explanation of 14:4a.
they are virgins: The word virgins is masculine. It refers to men who have never had sexual relations. Other ways to translate this clause are:
they kept themselves pure (New International Version (1984))
-or-
they are celibate
-or-
they have not lain with women
This clause may refer figuratively to all believers being pure in God’s eyes. For example:
as virgins (New Living Translation (2004))
But many English versions translate literally and allow the reader to decide whether to understand this clause literally or figuratively.
14:4c
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes: This clause refers figuratively to obeying Jesus as their master or leader. These men/believers always did as Jesus commanded them. For example:
they follow the Lamb wherever he leads (Contemporary English Version)
In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that these men/believers physically walked behind Jesus wherever he went. If that is true in your language, you should translate the figurative meaning. For example:
They have not separated from the Lamb wherever he goes
-or-
They obey everything that the Lamb tells them
14:4d
They have been redeemed from among men: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:
⌊God⌋ has purchased them from among men
redeemed: This verb is the same Greek verb as in 14:3d. There the Berean Standard Bible translated it as “redeemed.” It probably means “redeemed” here as well. Translate it as you did in 14:3.
from among men: The Greek phrase is literally “from people.” It probably has the same or similar meaning as “from the earth” (14:3b).
14:4e
as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb: This phrase describes the men/believers whom God purchased. Other ways to translate these words are:
as first fruits for God and the Lamb (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
to be the first–fruits for God and for the Lamb (New Jerusalem Bible)
as firstfruits: This phrase is a metaphor. In the Jewish society the first part of the harvest was given to God (Exodus 23:19, Leviticus 23:9–14). This offering was called firstfruits.
Here the 144,000 men/believers are like the first part of the harvest. They are set aside for God to use. In some languages it is more natural to translate this as a simile. For example:
like an offering of the first part of the harvest
-or-
just as the first part of the harvest is offered
-or-
like the/a harvest offering
If you have translated James 1:18, see how you translated “firstfruits” there.
© 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.