The rest of the dead … were ended: only after the one thousand years do all the other dead people, Christians and non-Christians, come back to life. This bit of information interrupts the narrative, which is why Good News Translation places it within parentheses. This is intended to make clear to the reader that the rest of the verse is linked directly to verse 4. One may also translate “All the other people who had died….”

This is the first resurrection: that is, the resurrection of the martyrs in verse 4 is the first resurrection (as verse 6 makes clear). It is possible to render this clause as “This is the first time that God will raise people from death” or “… will cause people to come back to life.”

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 .