whenever (implying hypothesis or more or less uncertain… · conjunction
those
τὰta
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — nominative plural neuter
beasts
ζῷαzōa
G2226
a live thing · noun — nominative plural neuter
give
δώσουσινdōsousin
G1325
to give (used in a very wide application · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person plural
glory
δόξανdoxan
G1391
glory (as very apparent) · noun — accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
honour
τιμὴνtimēn
G5092
a value · noun — accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
thanks
εὐχαριστίανeucharistian
G2169
gratitude · noun — accusative singular feminine
him
τῷtō
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — dative singular masculine
sat
καθημένῳkathēmenō
G2521
and (to sit · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, dative singular masculine
on
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
throne
θρόνῳ,thronō
G2362
a stately seat ("throne") · noun — dative singular masculine
who
τῷtō
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — dative singular masculine
liveth
ζῶντιzōnti
G2198
to live (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active participle, dative singular masculine
for
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
ever
αἰῶναςaiōnas
G165
properly · noun — accusative plural masculine
ever
αἰώνων,aiōnōn
G165
properly · noun — genitive plural 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 5:13-14 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I…
Revelation 7:11-12 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and wo…
Revelation 10:6 And 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 ther…
Revelation 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Psalms 47:8 God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.
Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Daniel 4:34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most…
Exodus 15:18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 4:8–end
We have considered the sights that the apostle saw in heaven: now let us observe the songs that he heard, for there is in heaven not only that to be seen which will highly please a sanctified eye, but there is that to be heard which will greatly delight a sanctified ear. This is true concerning the church of Christ here, which is a heaven upon earth, and it will be eminently so in the church made perfect in the heaven of heavens.
I. He heard the song of the four living creatures, of the ministers of the church, which refers to the prophet Isaiah's vision, Isa 6:1-13. And here, 1. They adore one God, and one only, the Lord God Almighty, unchangeable and everlasting. 2. They adore three holies…
The ground of praise here is God's eternity, and God's power and glory manifested in the creation of all things for His pleasure. Creation is the foundation of all God's other acts of power, wisdom, and love, and therefore forms the first theme of His creatures' thanksgivings. The four living creatures take the lead of the twenty-four elders, both in this anthem, and in that new song which follows on the ground of their redemption (Rev 5:8-10).
when--that is, whensoever: as often as. A simultaneous giving of glory on the part of the beasts, and on the part of the elders.
give--"shall give" in one oldest manuscript.
for ever and ever--Greek, "unto the ages of the ages."
Adam Clarke on Revelation 4:8
The four beasts had each of them six wings - I have already observed, in the preface to this book, that the phraseology is rabbinical; I might have added, and the imagery also. We have almost a counterpart of this description in Pirkey Elieser. chap. 4. I shall give the substance of this from Schoettgen. "Four troops of ministering angels praise the holy blessed God: the first is Michael, at the right hand; the next is Gabriel, at the left; the third is Uriel, before; and the fourth is Raphael, behind him. The shechinah of the holy, blessed God is in the midst, and he himself sits upon a throne high and elevated, hanging in the air; and his magnificence is as amber חשמל, (chashmal), in the m…
"And the four and twenty elders, failing down before the throne, adored God." The four and twenty elders arethe twenty-four books of the prophets and of the law, which give testimonies of the judgment. Moreover, also, they are the twenty-four fathers-twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs.
Along with the holy living creatures, the elders give glory to God; the act of casting their crowns before God signifies that the crown is a symbol of victory and kingship. Casting them before the throne of God, the true and genuine kingdom and the victory over all given to God who reigns over all.
And when these things were doing, he says that all the elders fell down and adored the Lord; while the living creatures-that is, of course, the actions recorded in the Gospels and the teaching of the Lord-gave Him glory and honour.31 In that they had fulfilled the word that had been previously foretold by them, they worthily and with reason exult, feeling that they have ministered the mysteries and the word of the Lord. Finally, also, because He had come who should remove death, and who alone was worthy to take the crown of immortality, all for the glory of His most excellent doing had crowns. "And they cast their crowns under His feet." That is, on account of the eminent glory of Christ's victory, they cast all their victories under His feet. This is what in the Gospel the Holy Spirit consummated by showing, For when about finally to suffer, our Lord had come to Jerusalem, and the people had gone forth to meet Him, some strewed the road with palm branches cut down, others threw down their garments, doubtless these were setting forth two peoples-the one of the patriarchs, the other of the prophets; that is to say, of the great men who had any kind of palms of their victories against sin, and cast them under the feet of Christ, the victor of all. And the palm and the crown signify the same things, and these are not given save to the victor.
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
Living creatures — As represented by Ezekiel (1-10) and John (Rev. 4, etc.), are the cherubim. They are distinguished from angels (Rev. 15:7); they join the elders in the “new song” (5:8, 9); they warn of danger from…
God · Is declared to be: Eternal — Is declared to be: Eternal
Praise · The heavenly host engage in — The heavenly host engage in
Thankfulness · The heavenly host engage in — The heavenly host engage in
Thanksgiving · The heavenly host engaged in — The heavenly host engaged in
Throne · .Of Christ — .Of Christ
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 4:9
And when these beasts give glory,.... When they give God the glory of all his perfections, covenant, and promises, and of all the gifts and grace bestowed on them, and of the success of their ministry; and in it glorify Father, Son, and Spirit, who bear their respective parts in the business of salvation; and ascribe to each their due glory in election, redemption, and sanctification:
and honour; in the several parts of religious worship performed by them; and not with their lips only, but with their hearts also:
and thanks; for all blessings, temporal and spiritual, bestowed on them, and on the saints: even
to him that sat on the throne; God the Father, Revelation 4:3;
who liveth for ev…
The antiphonal chorus of twenty-four elders provides divine perspective on creation. • The one sitting on the throne is typical Jewish indirection to avoid speaking God’s name.
