Revelation 16:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Revelation 16:13
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
a current of air · noun — accusative plural neuter
like
ὅμοιοςhómoios
G3664
similar (in appearance or character)
frogs
βάτραχοι.batrachoi
G944
a frog · noun — nominative plural masculine
of
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
mouth
στόματοςstomatos
G4750
the mouth (as if a gash in the face) · noun — genitive singular neuter
dragon
δράκοντοςdrakontos
G1404
a fabulous kind of serpent (perhaps as supposed to fasc… · noun — genitive singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
of
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
mouth
στόματοςstomatos
G4750
the mouth (as if a gash in the face) · noun — genitive singular neuter
beast
θηρίουthēriou
G2342
a dangerous animal · noun — genitive singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
of
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
mouth
στόματοςstomatos
G4750
the mouth (as if a gash in the face) · noun — genitive singular neuter
prophet
ψευδοπροφήτουpseudoprophētou
G5578
a spurious prophet · noun — genitive singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the…
2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be torme…
Revelation 13:11-18 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to t…
Exodus 8:2-7 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
Psalms 105:30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 16:12-16
The sixth angel poured out his vial; and observe,
I. Where it fell - upon the great river Euphrates. Some take it literally, for the place where the Turkish power and empire began; and they think this is a prophecy of the destruction of the Turkish monarchy and of idolatry, which they suppose will be effected about the same time with that of the papacy, as another antichrist, and that thereby a way shall be made for the conveniency of the Jews, those princes of the east. Others take it for the river Tiber; for, as Rome is mystical Babylon, Tiber is mystical Euphrates. And when Rome shall be destroyed her river and merchandise must suffer with her.
II. What did this vial produce? 1. The dryin…
unclean spirits like frogs--the antitype to the plague of frogs sent on Egypt. The presence of the "unclean spirit" in the land (Palestine) is foretold, Zac 13:2, in connection with idolatrous prophets. Beginning with infidelity as to Jesus Christ's coming in the flesh, men shall end in the grossest idolatry of the beast, the incarnation of all that is self-deifying and God-opposed in the world powers of all ages; having rejected Him that came in the Father's name, they shall worship one that comes in his own, though really the devil's representative; as frogs croak by night in marshes and quagmires, so these unclean spirits in the darkness of error teach lies amidst the mire of filthy lusts…
Three unclean spirits - Perhaps false teachers, called afterwards spirits of devils, which persuade the kings of the earth by lying miracles to come forth to the place of general slaughter, Rev 16:14, Rev 16:16,
Some good critics apply this to Vespasian, and his pretended miracles. See the account in Tacitus, lib. iv. c. 81.
John Gill on Revelation 16:13
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs,.... Rome, the seat of antichrist, being destroyed, and the kingdom of the beast darkened, and brought into great contempt, Mahometanism greatly declining, the Gospel succeeding everywhere, the Jews being converted, and resettled in their own land, the devil bestirs himself more than ordinary; and dispatches his, and the emissaries of antichrist, to the kings of the whole earth, that can any ways be engaged on their side, and against the saints; and these are no other than the creatures of antichrist, such as cardinals, priests, and particularly Jesuits, as their original from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, show. Mr. Daubuz thinks the…
The Church Fathers
This passage mentions individually the devil as a dragon, the antichrist as a beast, and the false prophet as another figure distinct from the other two. It says that spirits similar to frogs come out from these, for they are characterized by a poisonous and filthy nature, and these evil powers love the mud and creep toward foul and moist pleasures. By the commands of the devil and of the antichrist and of the false prophet, they will use their mouths to show false signs and wonders to humankind.
And I saw from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast, etc. The spirit of the devil, and the Antichrist, and the leaders of his body, who are called threefold according to the number of parts of one body, are likened to frogs, which are horrible in place, appearance, and troublesome noise. Though they seem to be inhabitants of the waters, they wallow in filth and mud. Hypocrites, promising the water of life, hide dead in the filth which believers lay down in the water. Thus Pharaoh, who, in order to destroy the people in baptism, dared to enter after them, was killed there.
And he says they came out from the mouth of the Dragon and from the mouth of the False Prophet. The Dragon, the author of evil, he calls the Devil, and the False Prophet is someone else acting by the power of the Devil, as if it were prophesying, or the Antichrist. But if he is speaking in general of the Antichrist, whom in the earlier passages he introduced as one deprived by the Spirit of the Lord, but now as though still living he vents demons through his mouth, let the hearer not be astonished. For what is seen is a vision, and the first things are often shown to the evangelist later, and conversely the later things first, and he says, I saw three spirits like frogs. For there are spirits of demons performing signs, which go forth unto the kings. The demons are compared to frogs because they delight in the filthy, muddy life of men and in the slime. But the damp and windless life seems to them more like the life of sinners rather than the steadfast and hardened life of the righteous, whom they greatly envy and rejoice in the destruction of the living.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Frog — (Heb. tsepharde’a, meaning a “marsh-leaper”). This reptile is mentioned in the Old Testament only in connection with one of the plagues which fell on the land of Egypt (Ex. 8:2-14; Ps. 78:45;…
Frogs · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI
Good And Evil · Conflict between — Conflict between
Reptiles · Mentioned in scripture: Frog — Mentioned in scripture: Frog
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Three agents of deceit, evil spirits in the form of frogs, represent the demonic role of the evil trinity. Although the powers of evil battle against the Lord, it is God the Almighty, not any evil power, who is in control.