a number (as reckoned up) · noun — nominative singular masculine
army
στρατευμάτωνstrateumatōn
G4753
an armament · noun — genitive plural neuter
horsemen
ἱππικοῦhippikou
G2461
the cavalry force · adjective — genitive singular neuter
two
δύοdýo
G1417
"two"
thousand
δισμυριάδεςdismuriades
G3461
a ten-thousand · adverb + noun — nominative plural feminine
thousand
μυριάδων·muriadōn
G3461
a ten-thousand · noun — genitive plural feminine
and
καίkaí
G2532
and
heard
ἤκουσαēkousa
G191
to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
number
ἀριθμὸνarithmon
G706
a number (as reckoned up) · noun — accusative singular masculine
them
αὐτῶν.¶autōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural 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
Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the chil…
Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
Daniel 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood befo…
Ezekiel 38:4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them cl…
Daniel 11:40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with…
Revelation 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thou…
Ezekiel 23:6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 9:13–end
Here let us consider the preface to this vision, and then the vision itself.
I. The preface to this vision: A voice was heard from the horns of the golden altar, Rev 9:13, Rev 9:14. Here observe, 1. The power of the church's enemies is restrained till God gives the word to have them turned loose. 2. When nations are ripe for punishment, those instruments of God's anger that were before restrained are let loose upon them, Rev 9:14. 3. The instruments that God makes use of to punish a people may sometimes lie at a great distance from them, so that no danger may be apprehended from them. These four messengers of divine judgment lay bound in the river Euphrates, a great way from the European nat…
Compare with these two hundred million, Psa 68:17; Dan 7:10. The hosts here are evidently, from their numbers and their appearance (Rev 9:17), not merely human hosts, but probably infernal, though constrained to work out God's will (compare Rev 9:1-2).
and I heard--A, B, Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN omit "and."
Adam Clarke on Revelation 9:16
Two hundred thousand thousand - Δυο μυριαδες μυριαδων· Two myriads of myriads; that is, two hundred millions; an army that was never yet got together from the foundation of the world, and could not find forage in any part of the earth. Perhaps it only means vast numbers, multitudes without number. Such a number might be literally true of the locusts. Those who will have their particular system supported by the images in this most obscure book, tell us that the number here means all the soldiers that were employed in this war, from its commencement to its end! Those who can receive this saying let them receive it.
John Gill on Revelation 9:16
And the number of the army of the horsemen,.... This shows that the four angels before mentioned were men, and design generals of armies, or armies of men, even of horsemen; and manifestly point at the Turks, who were not only originally Persians, and had their name, as some say (e), from Turca in Persia, and from whence the Persians have their name, signifies an horseman; but the armies of the Turks chiefly consisted of horse, and what for show and for use, they had generally double the number of horses and mules as of men (f); and they are very good horsemen, and very dextrous at leaping on and off (g); and the horse's tail is still carried before the general, and principal officers, as a…
The Church Fathers
And the number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. This number designates the deceptive duplicity of the perverse army. Which another translation, saying "twice ten thousand times ten thousand," can be more easily understood; and this number is also opposed by the evangelical parable to the king having ten thousand (Matt. IV), as the duplicity of the wicked resists the simple faith of Christ, to whom thousands of thousands minister and ten thousand times ten thousand stand (Dan. VII).
And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. I heard the number of them. This number refers specifically to preachers of errors, but in such a way that the seduced people are also understood in the seducers. We see that this number coming against the number of the elect is both double and multiplied by two thousand; for it is said about the elect, The chariot of God is ten thousands, [Variant of Ps. 67:18] and about these people, twenty thousand times ten thousand. It is double, then, because it consists of evil spirits and reprobate men. There remains therefore for the twofold evil to be fought against by the onefold good.
"The number of that cavalry was eighty thousand." … He again uses different ways to suggest the whole body of evil persons. Here it says eighty thousand. Just as through the perfection of the number six, he signifies for us the form of sixty good people, so that we read "there were sixty queens," so sometimes the number eighty is used in a bad sense. [Eighty] arises from that which is fourfold, on account of the four well-known qualities of the body—cold and heat, moisture and dryness—or on account of the four passions that often vex humans in life—dread, desire, pain and joy. When these four are doubled because of the two sexes, they become eight. This number similarly increasing by way of tens makes eighty, and in some way this shows that portion of evil persons who as cavalry fight against the body of Christ, which is the church. Therefore, that verse continued, "there are eighty concubines," as though they were not united by a legitimate union but by a fraudulent one. And this is characteristic of all heresies that lay hold of the sacraments of faith for a time while they are clothed in the name of Christ. Yet just like concubines who do not remain permanently in the home, they desire to profit from the name of Christ by gaining influence or advantage or authority or human praise.… Tyconius comments upon another translation, "And the number of soldiers was twice ten thousand times ten thousand." … It seems to us that also in this translation the portion of the people of perdition are aptly indicated. For twice ten thousand is twenty thousand, and this is the number which the Lord in the Gospel placed against the king who had ten thousand, so that, as it were, the duplicity of those who are evil opposes the simplicity of the Christians.
Dictionary and topics
Cavalry · 8:6;9:25;12:3; — 8:6;9:25;12:3;
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).
The relationship of the four angels to their army is not clear. • 200 million: This figure represents an innumerable multitude. Even at its greatest strength, the ancient Roman army with twenty-one legions numbered only about 126,000 soldiers. It is unproductive to use this number in attempting to identify any specific country with such an overwhelming destructive force.