5:9a
they sang a new song: The word new here indicates that no one had sung this song before. It was a song for this occasion. Other ways to translate this clause are:
they sang a newly composed song
-or-
they sang a song that had never been sung before
they: This pronoun refers to the four living beings and the twenty-four leaders (5:8).
5:9b–10b
These words are a song praising the Lamb. If possible, translate and print them in a way that shows that they are a song or poetry.
5:9b
Worthy: The word Worthy indicates that it was right and proper for the Lamb to open the seals. He deserved this privilege. See how you translated this word in 5:2.
Here the word Worthy is emphasized in the Greek. If possible, emphasize the word Worthy naturally in your language. For example:
Worthy are You (Berean Standard Bible, New American Standard Bible)
-or-
You are indeed worthy
open its seals: This phrase refers to breaking the seals on the scroll so that the scroll can be unrolled. You may want to use the same verb that you used for “break the seals” in 5:2.
5:9c
You were slain: The word slain means “killed” (as in the Good News Translation). This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. In this verse, the exact people who killed Jesus is not important. For example:
⌊they/people⌋ killed you
5:9d
and: This conjunction indicates that the living creatures and the elders continue to tell why the Lamb was worthy.
by Your blood You purchased for God those:
This clause indicates that the Lamb died as a sacrifice. He willingly shed his blood on the cross. That was the price he paid to redeem people from the penalty of sin. By believing in him they could belong to God. Other ways to translate this clause are:
by your blood you ransomed for God saints (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
You bought people with your blood to be God’s own (God’s Word)
-or-
by dying as a sacrifice, you paid ⌊for the way⌋ for people to belong to God
by Your blood: This phrase refers to dying as a sacrifice. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
at the cost of your own blood (NET Bible)
-or-
with the blood of your death (New Century Version)
-or-
by ⌊shedding/spilling⌋ your life blood
purchased: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as purchased refers to acquiring or obtaining something by giving something in exchange for it. Other ways to translate this word are:
bought (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
ransomed (English Standard Version)
those: Here the word those refers to people who were “purchased.” Another way to translate this word is:
people (Good News Translation)
from every tribe and tongue and people and nation: As indicated by the Berean Standard Bible, the Greek word every only occurs before the word tribe. The word tribe applies to each of the four groups. In some languages it is more natural to repeat it for each group. For example:
from every tribe, every language, every people, and every nation
-or-
from all tribes, from all languages, from all places and from all kingdoms
tribe: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tribe can refer to a whole people group. It can also refer to a subgroup within the people group, like the English word “clan” does.
tongue: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as tongue here refers to all of the people who speak a certain language. In some languages it is more natural to refer to the people directly. For example:
people speaking every different language
people: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as people here refers to a large group of people. But it is sometimes used to refer to a whole country, which may have many people groups in it.
nation: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as nation here refers to a group of people who share a common culture. But it is sometimes used to refer to a whole country, which may have many people groups in it. It is similar in meaning to “people” above, but here it probably refers to a group of people under one government.
General Comment on 5:9e
In some languages it is more natural to list these groups in a different order. For example:
from every language, tribe, people, and nation
-or-
from every tribe, people, nation, and every language ⌊on earth⌋
The four words “tribe,” “tongue,” “people,” and “nation” refer to various kinds of people groups. All four words are used to emphasize that Jesus will purchase people from all over the world for God. Some languages do not have three similar words like “tribe,” “people,” and “nation.” If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Use fewer words. For example:
from every people and language and nation
• Use slightly different words to represent the different categories of people. For example:
from every clan and language and land and nation
© 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.