A mighty angel: see 5.2; 10.1.

A stone like a great millstone: “a stone that was as big as a large millstone.” This refers to the large upper stone, turned by an animal to grind grain. Where millstone is unknown the translation can be “a very large stone.”

The sea: see 10.2.

So shall Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence: the Greek word translated violence means “with an impulsive rush,” like that of an unruly crowd or a herd of pigs, and appears only here in the New Testament. In languages where “to throw down” does not apply naturally to the destruction of a city, the translation may have to say “With violence like this the mighty city Babylon will be destroyed” or “This is how God will use great violence to destroy the great city Babylon.”

Shall be found no more: see the similar expression in verse 14: “will never reappear,” “will be gone forever,” or “people will never see this city again.”

In verses 22-23 the angel addresses the city, using the second person singular. It may be well to do the same here in verse 21, as follows: “Babylon, you mighty city, this is how you will be violently destroyed! Mighty city, you will disappear forever!” or in languages that do not use the passive, “Babylon, you mighty city, this is how God will destroy you with great force! Mighty city….”

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 .

The devil … was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur: he joins the beast and the false prophet in the place of eternal punishment (see 19.20).

They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever: for the verb be tormented see 14.10; and for the expression indicating eternity, see 14.11.

An alternative translation model for languages that do not use the passive is the following:

• Then they threw the Devil, who deceived all these people, into the place that burns with fiery sulfur, where they had already thrown the beast and the false prophet. The fire will torment all of them day and night for ever.

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 .

His feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace: this describes the appearance of the figure’s feet; it does not say or imply that his feet were made of metal. The exact metal indicated by the Greek word translated burnished bronze is in doubt; the Greek word occurs only here and in 2.18, and nowhere else in Greek literature. The Arndt and Gingrich Lexicon has this entry: “Name of a metal or alloy, the exact nature of which is unknown.” Swete says it was a mixed metal of great brilliance. Most translations have “bronze” or “brass”; Translator’s New Testament has “precious metal.” The precise word burnished may be too high level for the average reader (it means “polished”).

Refined as in a furnace: the process of refining metal ore involves a furnace, where the heat consumes the impurities and the liquid metal flows into a mold. Once the bronze artifact has been made, then it is polished so as to shine. A translation should not give the impression that the bronze was first polished and then refined in a furnace, as Revised English Bible, for example, may imply: “like burnished bronze refined in a furnace.” New International Version‘s “like bronze glowing in a furnace” is not a satisfactory translation, nor is “as the finest bronze glows in a furnace” (Phillips). Translators in many languages will need to make all of this information explicit and say, for example, “shone like bronze that has been refined (or, melted down to get rid of impurities) and then polished.”

His voice was like the sound of many waters: see Ezek 43.2. The many waters may be a waterfall or the roaring sea. New American Bible, Revised has “the sound of rushing water,” Bible en français courant “giant waterfalls” (also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), Revised English Bible “a mighty torrent.” The figure, of course, indicates the volume of sound, not its quality. One may also say “his voice was loud like….”

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 .

Awake: someone who is “dead” in verse 1 cannot logically be told to Awake, but this is part of the author’s style. See Eph 5.4 for similar use of these figures. This word should not be understood to mean “awake from sleep”; on the contrary, it means “Become alive again,” “Wake up from death,” or “Begin living as Christians (or, followers of me) again.”

And strengthen what remains and is on the point of death: the verb strengthen means, in this context, to restore to strength, to renew, to invigorate, to put strength (vigor) back into. New Jerusalem Bible translates “put some resolve into what little vigour you have left.” And what remains refers to their Christian virtues or activities that had been neglected and were about to die, that is, about to disappear completely.

For I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God: Christ has investigated what the Christians at Sardis have done, and he has discovered that their works do not measure up to the standards set by God (for your works see 2.2, 19). The word perfect here translates the perfect passive participle of a verb that means to complete, fulfill, bring to perfection. Moffatt translates “nothing you have done is complete”; Revised English Bible has “brought to completion.” The implication seems to be that the Christians at Sardis had begun to do things as Christians but had lost their enthusiasm and not finished what they had begun. Another translation model for this clause is “For I have discovered (or, found out) that in God’s opinion you have not completed anything that you have done.”

The phrase in the sight of my God means from God’s point of view, or the way God looks at things. God’s standards have not been met. For this use of the Greek adverb “before,” here translated in the sight of, see 1 Tim 2.3; 5.4. The possessive my God means “the God I serve (or, worship),” not “the God I possess.”

An alternate translation model for this verse is:

• I have found that your lives as Christians do not meet the standards that my God has set. So wake up from your spiritual sleep, and renew (or, restore) the strength of the Christian qualities you still have, before they die (or, disappear) completely.

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 .

I wept much: something like “I began to weep (or, cry) bitterly” (Phillips, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, New Revised Standard Version) better translates the imperfect tense of the Greek verb. Other ways of translating this sentence are “weep sorrowfully” or “weep a great deal.”

That no one was found: it is better to translate “because no one” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Translator’s New Testament), stating the reason why John was weeping so much. The verb phrase “was not found” may have the more general sense of “there was no one” (Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), or else it may mean “no one was found who was worthy,” as Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and others have it, implying that a search had been made to find someone who was worthy. But the idea of a search should be left implicit and not stated explicitly. In some languages “no one was found worthy” will be restructured as “they could find no one who was worthy.” On the translation of to open the scroll or to look into it, see the previous verse.

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 .

Amen!: the angels affirm the praise offered by the immense crowd in verse 10 (see 1.6).

As in verse 10, there is no verb in Greek (Revised Standard Version be to and Good News Translation “belong to” are adjustments for English style).

Blessing and glory: of the seven nouns used in this song of praise, six appear also in the praise offered to the Lamb in 5.12 (which see). The Greek word translated thanksgiving is used also in 4.9 (where it is translated “thanks”). As in 5.12, 13, verbal phrases may be a more effective way to translate these nouns; for example, “We proclaim that our God is great, powerful, majestic (or, mighty), and wise (or, with complete knowledge). Let us praise him and thank him for ever and ever. So be it!” The “we” and “our” should follow the same inclusive or else exclusive pattern used in verse 10.

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 .

The Greek text says literally “And thus I saw the horses in the vision and the riders on them having fiery breastplates.” The Greek manuscripts have no punctuation marks; all such marks are inserted by editors of the printed Greek text. It is possible therefore that the Greek text means what Revised Standard Version has, that is, only the riders wore the breastplates (also New Revised Standard Version, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Barclay, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant); but it is also possible that the text means what Good News Translation says, that is, that both riders and horses had breastplates (so Revised English Bible, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Translator’s New Testament, New International Version); see Rev. 9.9. On the whole it appears that the form of the Greek text favors Good News Bible, but a translator should feel free to follow the Revised Standard Version rendering. Breastplates in this context may also be expressed as “armor protecting their chests” or “metal plates protecting their chests.”

In my vision: this is the only place in the book where the noun vision is used; the meaning is elsewhere always expressed by the verb “I saw.” Vision in many languages will be translated as “dream.”

The riders: as in the case of the riders of the four horses in 6.2, 4, 5, 8, the text does not say whether they are human or angelic (or demonic) beings; if in translation a specific term must be used, it seems better not to identify them as human beings. If possible the translation should say “those who were riding them.”

The color of fire and of sapphire and of sulphur: that is, red, blue, and yellow (see Good News Translation). The sapphire is a precious stone, usually dark blue. Sulfur is a yellow substance that burns with great heat and produces an unpleasant smell. If specific terms for sapphire and sulfur are not readily available, the translation can say simply “blue and yellow.” But sulfur appears later in this verse and also in the next verse. It will be helpful in the case of sulphur to include an explanatory note in the glossary. See also A Handbook on the Book of Psalms, page 114.

Alternative translation models for this clause are:

• They had armor protecting their chests, which was red like fire, blue like sapphires, and yellow like sulphur.

Or:

• The metal plates protecting their chests were red like the color of fire, blue like a sky-colored precious stone, and yellow like sulphur.

Like lions’ heads: as in 4.7, these horses had heads like those of lions.

Fire and smoke and sulphur issued from their mouths: the picture is something like that of a dragon belching flames.

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 .