the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Revelation 8:1
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- InternationalParallel Translations
The Lamb opened the seventh seal. Then there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seale there was silence in heven aboute the space of halfe an houre.
When he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
When he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about half an hour.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour.
And whanne he hadde openyd the seuenthe seel, a silence was maad in heuene, as half an our.
And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When He (the Lamb) broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour [in awe of God's impending judgment].
And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And when the seventh stamp was undone there was quiet in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for what seemed like half an hour.
And when it opened the seventh seal, there was silence in the heaven about half an hour.
When the lambhe">[fn] opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.Revelation 6:1;">[xr]
AND when he had opened the SEVENTH SEAL, silence was in heaven, as the dividing of an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, for about half an hour.
And when hee had opened the seuenth seale, there was silence in heauen about the space of halfe an houre.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb broke the seventh lock, there was not a sound in heaven for about one-half hour.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And when he had opened the seuenth seale, there was silence in heauen about halfe an houre.
AND when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour.
And when he had opened the seuenth seale, ther was scilence in heaue about the space of halfe an houre:
When the Lamb broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And when He opened the seventh seal, a silence occurred in Heaven, about a half hour.
And when he openeth the seventh seal, there came silence in the heaven about half-an-hour,
And when he had opened the seuenth seale, there was silece in heauen aboute the space of halfe an houre.
At the opening of the SEVENTH SEAL, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
When the Lamb ripped off the seventh seal, Heaven fell quiet— complete silence for about half an hour.
Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
When the Lamb tore open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about thirty minutes.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
And: Revelation 5:1, Revelation 5:9, Revelation 6:1, Revelation 6:3, Revelation 6:5, Revelation 6:7, Revelation 6:9, Revelation 6:12
silence: Job 4:16, Psalms 37:7, Psalms 62:1, *marg. Habakkuk 2:20, Zechariah 2:13
Reciprocal: 2 Timothy 3:1 - perilous
Cross-References
and sent forth a raven, - and it kept going forth and returning, until the drying up of the waters from off the earth.
but the dove found no resting-place for the sole of her foot so she returned unto him into the ark, for, waters, were on the face of all the earth; and he put forth his hand and took her, and brought her in unto him, into the ark.
And Noah builded an altar to Yahweh, - and took of all the clean beasts and of all the clean birds, and caused ascending Sacrifices to go up on the altar.
During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the circuit, that God remembered Abraham, and sent forth Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities wherein Lot had dwelt.
Then God remembered Rachel, - and God hearkened unto her, and granted her to bear.
And God heard their groaning, - and God remembered his covenant, with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob;
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and Yahweh carried away the sea by a mighty east wind all the night, and turned the sea into dry land, - and the waters were cloven asunder.
And the messenger of Yahweh said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass, these three times? Lo! I, myself, am come forth to withstand thee, because headlong was thy way before me.
And they rose up early in the morning, and worshipped before Yahweh, and returned, and entered their own house, in Ramah, - and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And when he had opened the seventh seal,.... That is, when the Lamb had opened the seventh and last seal of the scaled book:
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour; not in the third heaven, the seat of the divine Being, of angels and glorified saints, where are hallelujahs without intermission; but in the church, which is oftentimes signified by heaven in this book, and where now the throne of God was placed, in that form as described in Revelation 4:4, or rather in the Roman empire: nor is this silence the sum of this seal, or the only thing in it; for it includes the preparation of the seven angels to take their trumpets, though none of them were sounded during this period. This space of time some think refers to the time which elapsed, while the angel, who had incense given him to offer it with the prayers of saints, did so, and took fire off the altar with his censer, and cast it on the earth: and while the seven angels had their trumpets given them, and they were preparing to sound. Others are of opinion that this was only a pause, a breathing time for John between the former visions and seals, and the following; nothing being said or done, or anything exhibited to him during this interval; but he was at leisure to reflect on what he had seen, and to prepare for what was to come. Others understand it of the amazement of the saints at the judgments of God, which were coming upon the Christian empire, and of their quiet and silent preparations for these troubles and combats, both within and without, they were to be exercised with; see Zechariah 2:13. Others have thought that this refers to the state of the saints after the day of judgment, when there will be an entire cessation from persecution and trouble, and when the souls under the altar will have done crying for vengeance; but this will be not for half an hour only, but to all eternity; nor will angels and saints be then silent. Rather this is to be understood of that peace and rest which the church enjoyed upon Constantine's having defeated all his enemies, when he brought the church into a state of profound tranquillity and ease; and this lasted but for a little while, which is here expressed by about, or almost half an hour, as the Syriac version renders it; for in a short time the Arian heresy broke out, which introduced great troubles in the church, and at last violent persecutions. The allusion is, as in the whole of the following vision of the angel at the altar, to the offering of incense; at which time the people were removed from the temple, from between the porch and altar l, to some more distant place; and the priest was alone while he offered incense, and then prayed a short prayer, that the people might not be affrighted lest he should be dead m: and who in the mean while were praying in a silent, manner without; see Luke 1:9; hence the Jews say n, that the offering of incense atones for an ill tongue, for it is a thing that is introduced
בחשאי, "silently", and it atones for what is done silently, such as whisperings, backbitings, &c. and they call o silence the best of spices, even of those of which the sweet incense was made.
l T. Tab. Yoma, fol. 44. 1. Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 3. sect. 3. m Misn. Yoma, c. 5. sect. 1. n T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 44. 1. & Zebachim, fol. 88. 2. o T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 18. 1.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And when he had opened the seventh seal - See the notes on Revelation 5:1.
There was silence in heaven - The whole scene of the vision is laid in heaven Revelation 4:1-11, and John represents things as they seem to be passing there. The meaning here is, that on the opening of this seal, instead of voices, thunderings, tempests, as perhaps was expected from the character of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12 ff), and which seemed only to have been suspended for a time Revelation 7:0, there was an awful stillness, as if all heaven was reverently waiting for the development. Of course this is a symbolical representation, and is designed not to represent a pause in the events themselves, but only the impressive and fearful nature of the events which are now to be disclosed.
About the space of half an hour - He did not profess to designate the time exactly. It was a brief period - yet a period which in such circumstances would appear to be long - about half an hour. The word used here - ἡμιώριον hēmiōrion - does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It is correctly rendered “half an hour”; and, since the day was divided into twelve parts from the rising to the setting of the sun, the time designated would not vary much from half an hour with us. Of course, therefore, this denotes a brief period. In a state, however, of anxious suspense, the moments would seem to move slowly; and to see the exact force of this, we are to reflect on the scenes represented - the successive opening of seals disclosing most important events - increasing in interest as each new one was opened; the course of events which seemed to be leading to the consummation of all things, arrested after the opening of the sixth seal; and now the last in the series to be opened, disclosing what the affairs of the world would be at the consummation of all things.
John looks on this; and in this state of suspense the half hour may have seemed an age. We are not, of course, to suppose that the silence in heaven is produced by the character of the events which are now to follow - for they are as yet unknown. It is caused by what, from the nature of the previous disclosures, was naturally apprehended, and by the fact that this is the last of the series - the finishing of the mysterious volume. This seems to me to be the obvious interpretation of this passage, though there has been here, as in other parts of the Book of Revelation, a great variety of opinion as to the meaning. Those who suppose that the whole book consists of a triple series of visions designed to prefigure future events, parallel with each other, and each leading to the consummation of all things - the series embracing the seals, the trumpets, and the vials, each seven in number - regard this as the proper ending of the first of this series, and suppose that we have on the opening of the seventh seal the beginning of a new symbolical representation, going over the same ground, under the representations of the trumpets, in a new aspect or point of view.
Eichorn and Rosenmuller suppose that the silence introduced by the apostle is merely for effect, and that, therefore, it is without any special signification. Grotius applies the whole representation to the destruction of Jerusalem, and supposes that the silence in heaven refers to the restraining of the winds referred to in Revelation 7:1 - the wrath in respect to the city, which was now suspended for a short time. Prof. Stuart also refers it to the destruction of Jerusalem, and supposes that the seven trumpets refer to seven gradations in the series of judgments that were coming upon the persecutors of the church. Mr. Daubuz regards the silence here referred to as a symbol of the liberty granted to the church in the time of Constantine; Vitringa interprets it of the peace of the millennium which is to succeed the overthrow of the beast and the false prophet; Dr. Woodhouse and Mr. Cunninghame regard it as the termination of the series of events which thee former seals denote, and the commencement of a new train of revelations; Mr. Elliott, as the suspension of the winds during the sealing of the servants of God; Mr. Lord, as the period of repose which intervened between the close of the persecution by Diocletian and Galerius, in 311, and the commencement, near the close of that year, of the civil wars by which Constantine the Great was elevated to the imperial throne.
It will be seen at once how arbitrary and unsatisfactory most of those interpretations are, and how far from harmony expositors have been as to the meaning of this symbol. The most simple and obvious interpretation is likely to be the true one; and that is, as above suggested, that it refers to silence in heaven as expressive of the fearful anticipation felt on opening the last seal that was to close the series, and to wind up the affairs of the church and the world. Nothing would be more natural than such a state of solemn awe on such an occasion; nothing would introduce the opening of the seal in a more impressive manner; nothing would more naturally express the anxiety of the church, the probable feelings of the pious on the opening of these successive seals, than the representation that incense, accompanied with their prayers, was continually offered in heaven.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER VIII.
The opening of the seventh seal, 1.
The seven angels with the seven trumpets, 2-6.
The first sounds, and there is a shower of hail, fire, and
blood, 7.
The second sounds, and the burning mountain is cast into the
sea, 8, 9.
The third sounds, and the great star Wormwood falls from
heaven, 10, 11.
The fourth sounds, and the sun, moon, and stars are smitten;
and a threefold wo is denounced against the inhabitants of
the earth, because of the three angels who are yet to sound,
12, 13.
NOTES ON CHAP VIII.
Verse Revelation 8:1. The seventh seal — This is ushered in and opened only by the Lamb.
Silence in heaven — This must be a mere metaphor, silence being put here for the deep and solemn expectation of the stupendous things about to take place, which the opening of this seal had produced. When any thing prodigious or surprising is expected, all is silence, and even the breath is scarcely heard to be drawn.
Half an hour. — As heaven may signify the place in which all these representations were made to St. John, the half hour may be considered as the time during which no representation was made to him, the time in which God was preparing the august exhibition which follows.
There is here, and in the following verses, a strong allusion to different parts of the temple worship; a presumption that the temple was still standing, and the regular service of God carried on. The silence here refers to this fact-while the priest went in to burn incense in the holy place, all the people continued in silent mental prayer without till the priest returned. See Luke 1:10. The angel mentioned here appears to execute the office of priest, as we shall by and by see.
