And I heard a loud voice in heaven: see 10.4; 11.12. John is on earth, the voice comes from heaven. The speaker is not identified, but the phrase the accuser of our brethren may lead one to infer that the speaker is one of the martyrs at the foot of the altar in heaven (6.9-11), or else one of the enormous crowd of the redeemed standing in front of the throne of God (7.9-17). But it seems more likely that the speaker is an angel; it should be noticed that in 19.10 the angel says to John “I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers.” In any case a translation should not try to identify the speaker. However, in some languages one must say “Then I heard someone in heaven speaking with a loud voice, saying….”

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God … have come: the adverb Now is quite important and should not be overlooked: “At last God….” It is not very natural to use the verb “to come” with the nouns salvation and power. Many passages in the New Testament affirm that God’s kingdom has come, is coming, or will come, by which is meant that God rules or will rule as king over the world (see 11.15). As for salvation (see 7.10), it will most often be necessary to use a verbal phrase, “God will now save his people.” Some scholars believe that salvation here means “victory”: “God has now won the victory.” It seems preferable to express the idea of salvation. As for power (see 3.8), it is to be noticed that Good News Translation connects this with the following kingdom: “God has shown his power as King!” Or it is possible to say “God will now use his power and rule as king over the world” (see 11.17). The verbal phrase have come translates the same verb used in 11.15, but here it is used in the sense “have come into existence.”

In the same way the authority of his Christ must be translated “and his Messiah will now exercise his authority over the world.” For authority see 2.26; for his Christ see 11.15. This phrase may also be rendered as “and his chosen Savior will now use his authority.”

For the accuser of our brethren … who accuses them day and night: this describes the Devil either as a prosecuting attorney in the heavenly court, who tries to get God to condemn people (see Job 1.6-12; Zech 3.1-4), or else as one who appears in court to testify against the person on trial (accusers in court are mentioned in Acts 23.30, 35; 25.16, 18). Accuses may also be rendered as “tell what they have done wrong.” In at least one language it is expressed as “break word on someone.” Here our brethren should be made inclusive of both genders, “our fellow believers,” “our brothers and sisters,” since it is not restricted to males.

Day and night before our God: the phrase day and night may be rendered “continuously,” “without ceasing”; the possessive our is inclusive.

A possible model for ordering the various elements in this verse may be as follows:

• Then I heard someone in heaven say in a loud voice: “Now our God will save his people! (or, Now our God has won the victory!) Now he will use his power and rule as king! Now his Messiah will assert his authority over the world! For the Devil no longer stands in the presence of our God, accusing our fellow servants day and night. The Devil has been thrown out of heaven!

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 .