Revelation 10

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud. There was a rainbow over his head, his face was like the sun, and his legs were like columns of fire.

1And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

NoteThe Greek word for "another" here means another of the same kind, tying this figure to the angels of the preceding chapters. The details piled up in this verse are all stock features of divine or heavenly appearances in the Hebrew scriptures: the cloud, the rainbow of Ezekiel 1, the face shining like the sun, the burning pillars that recall the pillar of fire in Exodus.

2He held a little scroll in his hand, and it lay open. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.

2And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

NoteA "little book" in 1611 English is not a bound volume with pages. Books at this period were rolls of papyrus or parchment, unrolled from one end to read; a small one could be held in a hand and eaten, as happens in verse 9. Standing with one foot on the sea and one on the land is a posture of straddling the whole world, sea and dry land being the two halves that make it up.

3Then he shouted in a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he shouted, seven thunders spoke with their own voices.

3And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

Note"Uttered their voices" translates a phrase meaning simply that they spoke, that the thunder carried articulate words. In the Hebrew scriptures thunder is regularly described as the voice of God; Psalm 29 counts seven thunderings of that voice over the waters, which may be why these thunders arrive already numbered and with the definite article, "the seven thunders," as though the reader should know them.

4When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write down what they said. But I heard a voice from heaven say to me, "Keep sealed up what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down."

4And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

NoteTo "seal up" a document meant to close the roll and press a lump of wax or clay over the fastening, stamped with a signet. A sealed roll could not be read without visibly breaking the seal, so sealing something was the ordinary way of keeping its contents secret, or of preserving them unread until an appointed time. The instruction is to keep the message shut, not to record it.

5Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his hand toward heaven.

5And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

NoteRaising a hand toward heaven was the standard gesture for taking an oath, the way a raised right hand still is in a courtroom. The gesture and the words in the next verse together form a formal sworn statement, not a prayer.

6He swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who made the heavens and everything in them, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He swore that there would be no more delay.

6And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

NoteSwearing "by" someone means calling that person as guarantor, so that the oath fails if the speaker lies. An oath was normally sworn by a party greater than oneself, and here the guarantor is the maker of the three realms named: heaven, earth and sea, the standard threefold division of creation used in oath formulas in the Hebrew scriptures. The KJV's "that there should be time no longer" is misleading to a modern ear: the Greek word chronos means an interval or a stretch of waiting as well as time in the abstract, and the sense here is that the waiting is over, that there will be no further delay, not that time itself is being abolished.

7But in the days when the seventh angel speaks, when he begins to blow his trumpet, God's hidden plan will be finished, just as God announced to his servants the prophets.

7But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

8Then the voice I had heard from heaven spoke to me again. It said, "Go and take the open scroll out of the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

8And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

9So I went to the angel and said to him, "Give me the little scroll." He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will taste sweet as honey."

9And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

10I took the little scroll out of the angel's hand and ate it. In my mouth it was sweet as honey, but as soon as I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.

10And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

11And he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings."

11And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.