Another portent in heaven: see 12.1. Here, however, John explicitly says I saw. What he sees takes place in heaven itself, not high in the air, nor in “the sky” as in Good News Translation.

Great and wonderful: the two adjectives are used together in verse 3 also. Great does not mean “large” or “powerful” in this context, but rather “incredible” or “important.” Wonderful can be understood to mean “impressive,” “amazing,” “astonishing.” The related verb is used in 13.3, translated there as “with wonder.”

Seven plagues: for plagues see 9.18. Care should be taken in translating seven angels with seven plagues to avoid giving the impression that these seven angels are suffering from some incurable disease. So it may be better to say “seven angels who had the responsibility of inflicting the seven last plagues on the world” or “… of causing the people of the world to receive the seven final punishments.”

With them the wrath of God is ended: for wrath see 12.12. The Greek verb translated ended means not only to cease but also to complete. In this context the seven plagues express fully and completely God’s anger at sinners. So New Jerusalem Bible translates “they exhaust the anger of God”; Revised English Bible “was completed”; New American Bible, Revised “is accomplished”; Translator’s New Testament “is consummated”; Barclay, rather wordily, “reached its climax and consummation.” Some languages, however, cannot speak about wrath (or, “anger”) being accomplished or ended. In such cases translators may say “when these punishments are finished God will stop being angry,” or “when God finishes punishing people these seven times, he will stop being angry,” or “… his hot heart will cool down.”

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 .