And whenever the living creatures: this is how the Greek text begins the sentence that runs through verse 11. The word whenever seems to contradict the preceding statement that they never stop their praise. Verses 9-10 show that their praise is done repeatedly, but not continuously. Each time the living creatures sing praise to God, the twenty-four elders prostrate themselves and worship him.

Give glory and honor and thanks: in ritual language individual words do not retain their precise distinctive meanings but mingle with other words for the total effect. What matters is the impact of the statement as a whole, not the separate meaning of each individual word or phrase.

To give glory to God means to proclaim that God is “glorious,” that is, majestic and wonderful. To give … honor to God is to proclaim that God is great, famous, worthy of praise. To give … thanks is to thank, to declare one’s gratitude for benefits received. For glory see 1.6; the word translated honor appears also in 4.11; 5.12, 13; 7.12; 21.26, always associated with glory. The noun translated thanks appears elsewhere in Revelation only at 7.12.

To him who is seated on the throne: it may be necessary to introduce the name “God”: “to God, who sits on his throne” (see 4.2).

Who lives for ever and ever: this is an expression used of God (see Dan 4.34; 6.26; 12.7). It may be necessary to say “who never dies” or “whose life will never end.” The word “immortality” is used in 1 Tim 6.16.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The four living creatures sing songs to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever. They sing, saying that he is powerful, with great honor, and they thank him for what he has done for them.

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 .