water (as if rainy) literally or figuratively · noun — genitive plural neuter
say
λέγοντος·legontos
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, genitive singular masculine
art
εἶeî
G1488
thou art
righteous
δίκαιοςdikaios
G1342
equitable (in character or act) · adjective — nominative singular masculine
Lord
κύριεkurie
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title
art
ὤνṓn
G5607
being
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
wast
ἦνēn
G2258
I (thou
and
καίkaí
G2532
and
be
ὅσιος,hosios
G3741
and from G40 (ἅγιος) · adjective — vocative singular masculine
because
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
judged
ἔκρινας,ekrinas
G2919
by implication · verb — aorist active indicative, 2nd person singular
thus
ταῦταtaûta
G5023
these things
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 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and…
Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from…
Psalms 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
Genesis 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that b…
Psalms 129:4 The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgme…
2 Thessalonians 1:5-6 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 16:1-7
We had in the foregoing chapter the great and solemn preparation that was made for the pouring out of the vials; now we have the performance of that work. Here observe,
I. That, though every thing was made ready before, yet nothing was to be put in execution without an immediate positive order from God; and this he gave out of the temple, answering the prayers of his people, and avenging their quarrel.
II. No sooner was the word of command given than it was immediately obeyed; no delay, no objection made. We find that some of the best men, as Moses and Jeremiah, did not so readily come in and comply with the call of God to their work; but the angels of God excel not only in strength, but in…
angel of the waters--that is, presiding over the waters.
O Lord--omitted by A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS.
and shalt be--A, B, C, Vulgate, and ANDREAS for this clause read, "(which art and wast) holy." The Lord is now no longer He that shall come, for He is come in vengeance and therefore the third of the three clauses found in Rev 1:4, Rev 1:8; Rev 4:8 is here and in Rev 11:17 omitted.
judged thus--literally, "these things." "Thou didst inflict this judgment."
Adam Clarke on Revelation 16:5
The angel of the waters - The rabbins attribute angels, not only to the four elements so called, but to almost every thing besides. We have already seen the angel of the bottomless pit, Rev 9:11, and the angel of the fire, Rev 14:18. The angel of the earth is spoken of in Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 13, 2, and is called Admael. They have also an angel that presides over the grass; another that presides over the cattle which feed upon the grass.
They say that God employed the angel of the sea to swallow up the waters at the creation, that the dry land might appear. He disobeyed, and God slew him; the name of the angel of the sea is Rahab. See Baba bathra, fol. 74, 2. It is plain from several places t…
And I heard the angel of the waters saying, You are just, etc. By the angel of the waters, he means all the angels of the peoples, harmonizing with divine praises from their inner affection, because in avenging the blood of His servants, He has given the murderers to drink death.
Here also it is shown that angels are placed over the elements. One of these, who is over the waters, sings a hymn to God for the just condemnation that has come upon the transgressors. For since they soiled their hands in the blood of the saints, God has given them blood to drink. By means of these words, it is shown either that at that time many are accounted worthy of the prophetic grace because of their remaining steadfast in faith, those, namely, who are killed by the henchmen of the devil, or that those who turn from the preaching of the prophets of God and justify their murder at the hands of the hardhearted Jews, become purposefully participants in their slaughter, as the Lord said to the Jews, "for although you build the tombs of the prophets, you consent in their murder."
The angels of the waters are the messengers of the peoples who by an affection of the heart raise up together loud praises to God.… To be sure, both the Jews and the nations have in a bodily manner shed the blood of the saints, which the Lord says must be exacted "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah." However, this plague might also be interpreted as a plague of that blindness so that they might even recognize that they have shed the blood of the prophets. For while they were abusing them [the prophets], they turned their minds to other things. It is as though he said, whoever understood the spiritual law in a fleshly way, they are justly handed over to the corruptions of the flesh and of blood when both the sins and the punishment for sins is recognized. Therefore, the apostle said, "For they did not receive the love of truth so that they might be saved; therefore, God shall send upon them a work of error to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had consented to iniquity."
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
Righteousness Of God, The · Angels acknowledge — Angels acknowledge
Water · Turned into blood — Turned into blood
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).
John Gill on Revelation 16:5
And I heard the angel of the waters say,.... So we read in Jewish writings (t) of an angel that was , "the prince of the sea", and of angels that were over the waters, and others over fire (u); though here is designed not one of the "angels of the water", that presided ove the waters, as another over fire; See Gill on Revelation 14:18, but the third angel that poured out his vial upon the waters; when he had so done, he said as follows. Dr. Lightfoot thinks, and that not without reason, that since these angels appeared in the garb of priests, Revelation 15:6 and since there was a priest appointed to take care of the wells, and fountains, and ditches about Jerusalem, that the people might ha…
the angel who had authority over all water: Angels and archangels are portrayed as having special roles in the hierarchy of heaven (see Dan 8:16; 9:21; 10:13, 21; 12:1; Luke 1:19, 26; see also 1 Enoch 66:1-2). This angel confirms these judgments as coming from God, who is both just and holy.
