Revelation 19:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Revelation 19:6
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
a tone (articulate · noun — accusative singular feminine
many
πολλῶνpollōn
G4183
(singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many · adjective — genitive plural neuter
waters
ὑδάτωνhudatōn
G5204
water (as if rainy) literally or figuratively · noun — genitive plural neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
as
ὡςhōs
G5613
which how · particle
voice
φωνὴνphōnēn
G5456
a tone (articulate · noun — accusative singular feminine
mighty
ἰσχυρῶνischurōn
G2478
forcible (literally or figuratively) · adjective — genitive plural feminine
thunderings
βροντῶνbrontōn
G1027
thunder · noun — genitive plural feminine
saying
λεγόντων·legontōn
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, genitive plural masculine
Alleluia
ἁλληλουϊά·hallēlouia
G239
praise ye Jah! · particle
for
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
Lord
κύριοςkurios
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
God
θεὸςtheos
G2316
figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
omnipotent
παντοκράτωρ.pantokratōr
G3841
the all-ruling · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
reigneth
ἐβασίλευσενebasileusen
G936
to rule (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
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
Psalms 97:1 The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
Revelation 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping…
Psalms 29:3-9 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
Psalms 93:1 The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stabli…
Psalms 99:1 The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.
Ezekiel 1:24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as…
Revelation 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Revelation 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 19:5-10
The triumphant song being ended, and epithalamium, or marriage-song, begins, Rev 19:6. Here observe,
I. The concert of heavenly music. The chorus was large and loud, as the voice of many waters and of mighty thunderings. God is fearful in praises. There is no discord in heaven; the morning stars sing together; no jarring string, nor key untuned, but pure and perfect melody.
II. The occasion of this song; and that is the reign and dominion of that omnipotent God who has redeemed his church by his own blood, and is now in a more public manner betrothing her to himself: The marriage of the Lamb has come, Rev 19:7. Some think this refers to the conversion of the Jews, which they suppose will suc…
many waters--Contrast the "many waters" on which the whore sitteth (Rev 17:1). This verse is the hearty response to the stirring call, "Alleluia! Praise our God" (Rev 19:4-5).
the Lord God omnipotent--Greek, "the Omnipotent."
reigneth--literally, "reigned": hence reigneth once for all. His reign is a fact already established. Babylon, the harlot, was one great hindrance to His reign being recognized. Her overthrow now clears the way for His advent to reign; therefore, not merely Rome, but the whole of Christendom in so far as it is carnal and compromised Christ for the world, is comprehended in the term "harlot." The beast hardly arises when he at once "goeth into perdition": so that Chr…
The voice of a great multitude - This is the catholic or universal Church of God gathered from among the Gentiles.
The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth - Εβασιλευσε Κυριος ὁ Θεος ὁ παντοκρατωρ. Many excellent MSS., most of the versions, with Andreas and Arethas, the two most ancient commentators on this book, add ἡμων, our, after ὁ Θεος· and according to this the text reads emphatically thus: Our Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth. What consolation to every genuine Christian that His Lord and God is the Almighty, and that this Almighty never trusts the reins of the government of the universe out of his hands! What therefore has his Church to fear?
The Church Fathers
And I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great trumpet and the voice of many waters, etc. The great voice of the singers is the great devotion of the heart; which, with the repeated multitude of praises, celebrates both the ruin of the wicked and the eternal glory of the Lord and His own.
"The voice of a great multitude and of many waters and thunderpeals" signifies the piercing clarity of the hymn, for all the angelic and heavenly powers are without number, and some have interpreted these to be the waters above the heavens. With these [heavenly powers] the whole body of the righteous give glory to the Creator. Indeed, Christ rules as King. By nature he governs all those of whom he is the Creator, but he rules these also by virtue of his incarnation, either according to his free and purposeful fellowship [with them] or according to the authority which is proper to him as King and Judge.
The trumpets signify that preaching of which Isaiah spoke, saying, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet." In this preaching the dread of the divine judgment is also indicated, which I think is also suggested by the mention of the thunder.… In the many waters those peoples are symbolized who praise God by saying "Hallelujah." And so, when the church preaches and fears and praises, she exults with trembling, as we read, "Serve the Lord with fear; praise him with trembling." "For our Lord the Almighty reigns." The voice rightly mentions God's omnipotence. For he created from nothing that which did not exist, and he sought those who had perished from sin, and he found those who were deserving of punishment, and from these he mercifully made righteous those whom he willed. Then from these, as though from members, he made for himself the church, and when he had redeemed her for such a dignity, he made her to be his bride since she did not merit to be his servant girl.
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
Alleluia — The Greek form (Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 6) of the Hebrew Hallelujah = Praise ye Jehovah, which begins or ends several of the psalms (106, 111, 112, 113, etc.).
Antichrist — Against Christ, or an opposition Christ, a rival Christ. The word is used only by the apostle John. Referring to false teachers, he says (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7), “Even now are there many…
Hallelujah — Praise ye Jehovah, frequently rendered “Praise ye the LORD,” stands at the beginning of ten of the psalms (106, 111-113, 135, 146-150), hence called “hallelujah psalms.” From its frequent occurrence…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
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 19:6
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude,.... Even of all the servants of the Lord, and them that fear him, small and great; a vast multitude of converted Jews and Gentiles, in the several parts of the world, who in answer to the voice out of the throne, which came with great power and energy, lift up their voices in praise to God, both for their own conversion, and for the downfall of Babylon:
and as the voice of many waters: falling down in a descent, or in rough and rocky places, which make a great noise, and is heard afar off; and such must be the united voice of so great a multitude of converts as will be gathered together everywhere at this time: the same metaphor is us…
The focus of the final thunderous Praise the Lord! is that God reigns as the Almighty in complete supremacy (see 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:15; 21:22).
