Revelation 1:15

New Living Translation

His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And his feete like vnto fine brasse, burning as in a fornace: and his voyce as the sounde of many waters.

Christian Standard Bible®
His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters.

Hebrew Names Version
His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.

Darby Translation
and his feet like fine brass, as burning in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters;

Easy-to-Read Version
His feet were like brass that glows hot in a furnace. His voice was like the noise of flooding water.

Amplified Bible
His feet were like burnished [white-hot] bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was [powerful] like the sound of many waters.

American Standard Version
and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.

Berean Standard Bible
His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.

Contemporary English Version
His feet were glowing like bronze being heated in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of a waterfall.

Complete Jewish Bible
his feet like burnished brass refined in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of rushing waters.

International Standard Version
his feet were like glowing bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of raging waters.[xr]

Etheridge Translation
and his feet were like refined brass, [fn] which flamed as in a furnace, and his voice as the voice of many waters.

Murdock Translation
and his feet were like fine brass, flaming in a furnace: and his voice, like the sound of many waters.

King James Version (1611)
And his feet like vnto fine brasse, as if they burned in a furnace: and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And his feete lyke vnto fine brasse, as though they brent in a furnace, and his voyce as the sounde of many waters.

English Revised Version
and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.

King James Version
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Lexham English Bible
and his feet were like fine bronze when it has been fired in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters,

Literal Translation
and His feet like burnished brass having been fired in a furnace; and His voice as a sound of many waters;

New American Standard Bible
His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been heated to a glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

New Century Version
His feet were like bronze that glows hot in a furnace, and his voice was like the noise of flooding water.

New English Translation
His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

New King James Version
His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;

New Revised Standard
his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, his feet, like unto glowing copper, as if in a furnace refined, and, his voice, like a sound of many waters,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And his feet like unto fine brass, as in a burning furnace. And his voice as the sound of many waters.

George Lamsa Translation
And his feet were like the fine brass of Lebanon, as though they burned in a furnace; and his voice was as the sound of many waters.

Good News Translation
his feet shone like brass that has been refined and polished, and his voice sounded like a roaring waterfall.

World English Bible
His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
and his eyes as a flame of fire, And his feet like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the voice of many waters.

Weymouth's New Testament
His feet were like silver-bronze, when it is white-hot in a furnace; and His voice resembled the sound of many waters.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and hise feet lijk to latoun, as in a brennynge chymney; and the vois of hym as the vois of many watris.

Webster's Bible Translation
And his feet like fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Revised Standard Version
his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
and his fete lyke vnto brasse as though they brent in a fornace: and his voyce as the sounde of many waters.

Update Bible Version
and his feet like burnished bronze, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.

Young's Literal Translation
and his feet like to fine brass, as in a furnace having been fired, and his voice as a sound of many waters,

Bible in Basic English
And his feet like polished brass, as if it had been burned in a fire; and his voice was as the sound of great waters.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and his fete like vnto brasse, as though they bret in a fornace: and his voyce as the sounde of many waters.

Mace New Testament (1729)
when glowing in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

New Life Bible
His feet were like shining brass as bright as if it were in a fire. His voice sounded like powerful rushing water.

Simplified Cowboy Version
His feet glowed like metal out of the blacksmith's furnace. His voice was like the sound of a rushing river.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

Contextual Overview

⁹ I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God's Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. ¹⁰ It was the Lord's Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. ¹¹ It said, "Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea." ¹² When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. ¹³ And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. ¹⁴ His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice thundered like mighty ocean waves. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came from his mouth. And his face was like the sun in all its brilliance. ¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his feet: Revelation 2:18, Ezekiel 1:7, Ezekiel 40:3, Daniel 10:6

his voice: Revelation 14:2, Revelation 19:6, Psalms 93:4, Isaiah 17:13, Ezekiel 43:2

Reciprocal: Song of Solomon 5:15 - legs Isaiah 30:30 - his glorious voice Ezekiel 1:4 - colour Ezekiel 1:24 - like Ezekiel 3:12 - a voice Ezekiel 8:2 - I beheld John 3:23 - much Revelation 10:1 - pillars Revelation 18:2 - cried

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace,.... By which is meant, not his human nature in a suffering state; or his people, the meaner and lower parts of his mystical body, in a like state; or his apostles and ministers, who are supporters of his church, and run to and fro with spiritual knowledge, for which, though they suffer much, are permanent and glorious; but either the power of Christ in bearing up and supporting his people, in the care and government and defence of them; or his ways, works, and walks in his churches, and all his providential administrations towards them, which are holy, just, and righteous, and will be manifest; or his wrath and vengeance in treading down and trampling upon his enemies:

and his voice as the sound of many waters; meaning his Gospel, as preached by his apostles and ministers, which was heard far and near; see Romans 10:18; and which made a great noise in the world; or his voice of vengeance on his enemies, which will be very terrible and irresistible.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And his feet like unto fine brass - Compare Daniel 10:6, “And his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass.” See also Ezekiel 1:7, “and they” (the feet of the living creatures) “sparkled like the color of burnished brass.” The word used here - χαλκολιβάνω chalkolibanō - occurs in the New Testament only here and in Revelation 2:18. It is not found in the Septuagint. The word properly means “white brass” (probably compounded of χαλκός chalkos, brass, and λίβανος libanos, whiteness, from the Hebrew לבן laban, white). Others regard it as from χαλκός chalkos, brass, and λιπαρόν liparon, clear. The metal referred to was undoubtedly a species of brass distinguished for its clearness or whiteness. Brass is a compound metal, composed of copper and zinc. The color varies much according to the different proportions of the various ingredients. The Vulgate here renders the word “aurichalcum,” a mixture of gold and of brass - perhaps the same as the ἠλεκτρον ēlektron - the electrum of the ancients, composed of gold and of silver, usually in the proportion of four parts gold and one part silver, and distinguished for its brilliancy. See Robinson, Lexicon, and Wetstein, in loco. The kind of metal here referred to, however, would seem to be some compound of brass - of a whitish and brilliant color. The exact proportion of the ingredients in the metal here referred to cannot now be determined.

As if they burned in a furnace - That is, his feet were so bright that they seemed to be like a beautiful metal glowing intensely in the midst of a furnace. Anyone who has looked upon the dazzling and almost insupportable brilliancy of metal in a furnace, can form an idea of the image here presented.

And his voice as the sound of many waters - As the roar of the ocean, or of a cataract. Nothing could be a more sublime description of majesty and authority than to compare the voice of a speaker with the roar of the ocean. This comparison often occurs in the Scriptures. See Ezekiel 43:2, “And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.” So Revelation 14:2; Revelation 19:6. Compare Ezekiel 1:24; Daniel 10:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 1:15. His feet like unto fine brass — An emblem of his stability and permanence, brass being considered the most durable of all metallic substances or compounds.

The original word, χαλκολιβανον, means the famous aurichalcum, or factitious metal, which, according to Suidas, was ειδος ηλεκτρου, τιμιωτερον χρυσου, "a kind of amber, more precious than gold." It seems to have been a composition of gold, silver, and brass, and the same with the Corinthian brass, so highly famed and valued; for when Lucius Mummius took and burnt the city of Corinth, many statues of these three metals, being melted, had run together, and formed the composition already mentioned, and which was held in as high estimation as gold. See Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. 34, c. 2; Florus, lib. 2, c. 16. It may however mean no more than copper melted with lapis calaminaris, which converts it into brass; and the flame that proceeds from the metal during this operation is one of the most intensely and unsufferably vivid that can be imagined. I have often seen several furnaces employed in this operation, and the flames bursting up through the earth (for these furnaces are under ground) always called to remembrance this description given by St. John: His feet of fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; the propriety and accuracy of which none could doubt, and every one must feel who has viewed this most dazzling operation.

His voice as the sound of many waters. — The same description we find in Ezekiel 43:2: The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.