Revelation 7:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Revelation 7:1
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
to stand (transitively or intransitively) · verb — perfect active participle, accusative plural masculine
on
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
four
τέσσαραςtessaras
G5064
four · adjective — accusative plural feminine
corners
γωνίαςgōnias
G1137
an angle · noun — accusative plural feminine
earth
γῆςgēs
G1093
soil · noun — genitive singular feminine
holding
κρατοῦνταςkratountas
G2902
to use strength · verb — present active participle, accusative plural masculine
four
τέσσαραςtessaras
G5064
four · adjective — accusative plural masculine
winds
ἀνέμουςanemous
G417
wind · noun — accusative plural masculine
earth
γῆςgēs
G1093
soil · noun — genitive singular feminine
that
ἵναina
G2443
compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
wind
ἄνεμοςanemos
G417
wind · noun — nominative singular masculine
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
blow
πνέῃpneē
G4154
to breathe hard · verb — present active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
on
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
earth
γῆςgēs
G1093
soil · noun — genitive singular feminine
nor
μήτεmēte
G3383
not too · conjunction — negative
on
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
sea
θαλάσσηςthalassēs
G2281
the sea (genitive case or specially) · noun — genitive singular feminine
nor
μήτεmēte
G3383
not too · conjunction — negative
on
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
any
πᾶνpan
G3956
all · adjective — accusative singular neuter
tree
δένδρον.¶dendron
G1186
a tree · noun — accusative singular neuter
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
Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of…
Daniel 7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Jeremiah 49:36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be…
Mark 13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the utte…
Daniel 8:8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the f…
Ezekiel 7:2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
Ezekiel 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,…
Isaiah 27:8 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 7:1-12
Here we have, I. An account of the restraint laid upon the winds. By these winds we suppose are meant those errors and corruptions in religion which would occasion a great deal of trouble and mischief to the church of God. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is compared to the wind: here the spirits of error are compared to the four winds, contrary one to another, but doing much hurt to the church, the garden and vineyard of God, breaking the branches and blasting the fruits of his plantation. The devil is called the prince of the power of the air; he, by a great wind, overthrew the house of Job's eldest son. Errors are as wind, by which those who are unstable are shaken, and carried to and fro, Eph 4…
And after these things - Immediately after the preceding vision.
I saw four angels - Instruments which God employs in the dispensation of his providence; we know not what.
On the four corners of the earth - On the extreme parts of the land of Judea, called ἡ γη, the land, or earth, by way of eminence.
Holding the four winds - Preventing evil from every quarter. Earth - sea, nor on any tree; keeping the whole of the land free from evil, till the Church of Christ should wax strong, and each of his followers have time to prepare for his flight from Jerusalem, previously to its total destruction by the Romans.
John Gill on Revelation 7:1
And after these things,.... After the opening of six of the seals of the sealed book, and after the demolition of Heathen deities, and of Heathen worship, and of Heathen magistrates, in the Roman empire, and the representation of these to John, he had the following vision; and which therefore does not refer to the preservation of the Christians, before and at the destruction of Jerusalem, which was under the first seal; nor to the security of the saints from the wrath of the Lamb, when it fell upon the Pagan worshippers, of all ranks and degrees, which was under the sixth seal, and was now over; but rather it respects an intermediate space of time between the sixth and seventh seal, as reach…
After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. That is, the four principal kingdoms, namely, those of the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. For just as in the previous seals, after witnessing the manifold conflicts of the Church, he saw the joys of the triumphant souls; so also now, he is about to prove with examples what victory follows the kingdom of the Antichrist, succeeding the preceding kingdoms of the world, which have already yielded to the rule of Christ's Church. For great causes must be confirmed by greater arguments.
Holding the four winds of the earth, etc. By their own power, they, in a way, suffocate everything, allowing no one to breathe freely under their jurisdiction. The diversity of provinces on land, the islands in the sea, and the various qualities and conditions of men in the trees are signified. Alternatively, the four angels are to be understood as the same as the four winds, according to the prophecy of Daniel saying: Behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea (Dan. 7).
Although these things are thought by some to have occurred long ago to the Jews at the hands of the Romans … how much more will these things occur at the coming of the antichrist, and not only partially in the land of the Jews but over the whole world at whose four corners the angels stand fulfilling a service assigned to them by God, but unknown to us. The holding back of the winds reveals clearly the dissolution of the good order of creation and the inevitability of evil. For by means of wind the plants of the earth are nourished and ships sail the sea.
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
Tribe — A collection of families descending from one ancestor. The “twelve tribes” of the Hebrews were the twelve collections of families which sprang from the sons of Jacob. In Matt. 24:30 the word has a…
Earth · Ancient notions concerning — Ancient notions concerning
Meteorology And Celestial Phenomena · 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37; — 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37;
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).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Revelation 7:1-17
Three interludes occur in chs 6–14 (ch 7; 10:1–11:14; 12:1–14:20) to define the place of God’s holy people and to provide perspective on the previous scenes. In this first interlude before the seventh seal is broken, two visions communicate how God protects his people and assures them of his calling.
7:1-8 The interlude’s first vision shows how God protects his faithful followers from ultimate harm.
7:1-3 Wait! God calls for a temporary halt by the four angels of destruction. • The seal of the living God implies membership in God’s household; God owns and protects his people (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-14). In the ancient world, sealing or tattooing was a sign of ownership. • The angel . . . car…
