SIL Translator’s Notes on Revelation 20:12

20:12a

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne:
The conjunction And here introduces something else that John saw. For example:

I also saw… (Contemporary English Version)

the dead: This phrase refers to people who have died. For example:

all the dead people (Contemporary English Version)

great and small: This phrase refers to people of high status and low status. It implies people of all classes and position in society. The phrase does not refer to physical size. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

great and humble
-or-
both of high and lowly position/place
-or-
Every one of them was there, no matter who they had once been. (Contemporary English Version)

See how you translated this phrase in 11:18 or 19:18. The order of the words (“small and great” instead of “great and small”) does not change the meaning of the phrase.

20:12b–c

And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life: In the Greek, these clause are passive. Some languages must use active clauses. God or someone on his behalf opened the books. For example:

someone⌋ opened books. Then ⌊someone⌋ opened another book
-or-

God had someone⌋ open some books. Then ⌊God had him⌋ open another book
-or-

God⌋ opened some books. Then ⌊God⌋ opened another book

20:12c

the Book of Life: This phrase refers to a Book that has in it the names of people to whom God will give eternal Life. Some languages must translate the meaning in a more specific way. For example:

the book ⌊in which are the names⌋ of ⌊those who have⌋ ⌊eternal⌋ life
-or-
the book ⌊with/having the names⌋ of ⌊those to whom God will give⌋ ⌊eternal⌋ life

See how you translated this phrase in 3:5 or 17:8.

20:12d

And the dead were judged: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

God⌋ judged the dead

according to their deeds, as recorded in the books: The verb recorded is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. God wrote the names in the books, or had someone write the names in the books. For example:

what they had done as ⌊God⌋ had written in the books
-or-
what they had done as ⌊God has caused⌋ ⌊someone⌋ to write in the books

according to their deeds, as recorded: This phrase indicates that the deeds were written in the books at an earlier time. For example:

all that they had done, which had been recorded ⌊earlier

© 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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