Then I looked, and I heard: it is not necessary to suppose that in saying “I looked” John means that he actually saw all the countless millions of angels. This marks the first appearance of these participants in the drama.

John describes the precise order: first the innermost throne, then the four living creatures, then the twenty-four elders, and now the millions of angels. The word around is better translated by New Jerusalem Bible “gathered around”; Good News Translation and Translator’s New Testament “They stood around” is too specific. A verb like “surrounded” (New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Revised) or “encircled” (New International Version) is better.

Numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands: the Greek word translated “myriad” means ten thousand. The whole expression means “millions and millions of them” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), “countless thousands” (New American Bible, Revised “they were countless in number”); or else “too many to count” (see a similar expression in 9.16).

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Again I looked, and I heard the voices of countless numbers of angels standing around the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders.

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 .