Revelation 9:14

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

saying unto the sixth messenger, who was holding the trumpet - Loose the four messengers, who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates."

Revised Standard Version
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphra'tes."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
saying to the sixte angell which had the trompe: Loose the iiii. angelles which are bounde in the grett ryver Eufrates.

Hebrew Names Version
saying to the sixth angel who had one shofar, "Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Perat."

New American Standard Bible
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

New Century Version
The voice said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Free the four angels who are tied at the great river Euphrates."

Update Bible Version
one saying to the sixth angel that had one trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.

Webster's Bible Translation
Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.

World English Bible
saying to the sixth angel who had one trumpet, "Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Weymouth's New Testament
It said to the sixth angel--the angel who had the trumpet, "Set at liberty the four angels who are prisoners near the great river Euphrates."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and seide to the sixte aungel that hadde a trumpe, Vnbynde thou foure aungels, that ben boundun in the greet flood Eufrates.

English Revised Version
one saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates.

Berean Standard Bible
saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Contemporary English Version
The voice spoke to this angel and said, "Release the four angels who are tied up beside the great Euphrates River."

Amplified Bible
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

American Standard Version
one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.

Bible in Basic English
Saying to the sixth angel who had the horn, Make free the four angels who are chained at the great river Euphrates.

Complete Jewish Bible
saying to the sixth angel, the one with the shofar, "Release the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates!"

Darby Translation
saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound at the great river Euphrates.

International Standard Version
It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are held at the great Euphrates River."Revelation 16:12;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels which are bound in the great river Phraat.

Murdock Translation
that said to the sixth angel having a trumpet: Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.

King James Version (1611)
Saying to the sixt Angel which had the trumpet, Loose the foure Angels which are bound in the great riuer Euphrates.

New Living Translation
And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River."

New Life Bible
The voice said to the sixth angel who had the horn, "Let the four angels loose that have been chained at the big river Euphrates."

New Revised Standard
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

English Standard Version
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Saying to the sixt Angel, which had the trumpet, Loose the foure Angels, which are bound in the great riuer Euphrates.

George Lamsa Translation
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound by the great river Euphrates.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Saying to the sixt angell whiche had the trumpe: Loose the foure angels which are bounde in the great riuer Euphrates.

Good News Translation
The voice said to the sixth angel, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River!"

Christian Standard Bible®
say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.”

King James Version
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Lexham English Bible
saying to the sixth angel, the one who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates!"

Literal Translation
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels, those having been bound at the great river Euphrates.

Young's Literal Translation
saying to the sixth messenger who had the trumpet, `Loose the four messengers who are bound at the great river Euphrates;'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
sayenge to the sixte angel, which had the trompe: Lowse the foure angels, which are bounde in the greate ryuer Eufrates.

Mace New Testament (1729)
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates."

New English Translation
saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, "Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!"

New King James Version
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Simplified Cowboy Version
The voice said to the angel, "Release the four angels bound at the Euphrates Creek!"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Contextual Overview

¹³ And, the sixth messenger, sounded; and I heard one voice, from among the horns of the altar of gold which is before God, ¹⁴ saying unto the sixth messenger, who was holding the trumpet - Loose the four messengers, who are bound at the great river Euphrates. ¹⁵ And the four messengers were loosed, who had been prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they should slay the third of men. ¹⁶ And, the number of the armies of the horsemen, was twice ten thousand times ten thousand - I heard the number of them. ¹⁷ And, thus, saw I the horses in the vision, - and them who were sitting upon them, having breastplates as of fire and hyacinth and brimstone; - and, the heads of the horses, were as heads of lions, and, out of their mouths, come forth fire and smoke and brimstone: ¹⁸ by these three plagues, were slain, the third part of mankind, by reason of the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, that proceedeth out of their mouths; ¹⁹ for, the licence of the horses, is, in their mouth, and in their tails, for, their tails, are like unto serpents, having heads, and, with them, they injure. ²⁰ And, the rest of mankind who were not slain by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, - that they should not do homage unto the demons, nor unto the idols of gold and of silver and of copper and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; ²¹ Neither repented they of their murders, or of their sorceries, or of their lewdnesses, or of their thefts.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

to the: Revelation 8:2, Revelation 8:6

loose: Revelation 9:15, Revelation 16:12

the great: Genesis 2:14, 2 Samuel 8:3, Jeremiah 51:63

Reciprocal: Isaiah 27:13 - the great 1 Corinthians 15:52 - last Revelation 7:1 - four angels Revelation 10:1 - another

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet,.... The sixth trumpet, which was given him, and he had prepared himself to sound, and had sounded:

loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates; not the four angels in Revelation 7:1; they stood upon the four corners of the earth; these were in, or at the river Euphrates; they held the four winds, that they should not blow, or restrained the savage nations, that they should not hurt; these are bound themselves, that they might not do mischief; nor are angels by nature at all intended; not evil angels, though they are bound in chains of darkness, and are reserved to judgment, they are admitted indeed to rove about in the air and earth, but are under the restraints of the power and providence of God; nor good angels, who are at the divine beck, and go in and out, and are detained and sent forth according to the pleasure of God, and are sometimes employed in killing great numbers of men; see 2 Samuel 24:15; but men are here meant, as appears from Revelation 9:16, and particularly the Turks, as most interpreters agree; who dwelt on the other side the river Euphrates, and were let loose, or suffered to pass over that river into the eastern empire, to ruin and destroy it, as they did: these are called "angels", because of their might and force, their power and strength, with which they bore all before them; and for their great swiftness and rapidity in the victories and conquests which the Ottoman family obtained; who, from very small beginnings, raised themselves, in a very little time, to a large monarchy, and founded the Turkish empire, which, from them, is to this day called the Ottoman empire. Ottoman the First subdued great part of Bithynia, and fixed the seat of his kingdom at Prusa; or rather his son Urchanes, who conquered Mysia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Caria, and the rest, to the Hellespont, and the Euxine sea. Amurath his son took Callipolis, Hadrianople, and the adjacent provinces. Bajazet added to the empire Thessalia, Macedonia, Phocis, Attica, Mysia, and Bulgaria; and Mahomet the Second took Constantinople itself, and thereby put an end to the eastern empire; and all this was done in a very few years: it is said of this last, that he conquered two empires, and twelve kingdoms, and above two hundred cities a. And these Ottoman Turks may be called angels, or messengers, because they were the messengers and executioners of God's wrath upon the eastern empire: they are signified by "four angels", either, as some think, because of the four names of Saracens, Turks, Tartars, and Arabians, though all Mahometans, under which they went, before they were united under one emperor, Ottoman; or rather because of the four principalities, or governments, into which they were divided, while they were upon the banks of, or near to the river Euphrates; the seat of one being at Iconium, another at Bagdad, a third at Aleppo, and a fourth at Damascus; and chiefly because, when they passed the river Euphrates, they had four princes at the head of them, Soliman Shak, and his three sons. Soliman himself, as he passed, not knowing the fords of the river, was drowned in it; at which his sons being so affrighted, two of them, Sankur Zengi, and Gun Tugdi, returned to Persia, but the third, Ortogrules, with his three sons (which made "four" again) Condoz, Sarubani, and Othman, or Ottoman, continued, to whom Aladdin, sultan of Iconium, gave them some land among the mountains of Armenia b; and from hence, by degrees, as before observed, a large empire was raised. Now these are said to be "bound in the great river Euphrates"; which river is to be literally understood, and is the same with that which is so called in Genesis 2:14, and ran through Mesopotamia and Chaldea, and was the boundary of the Roman empire; so it was fixed by Hadrian c; and beyond which the Turks, before this time did rarely go, and if they did, retired again: for till this time, as the historian says d, the Turks had Asia, εντος του ευφρατου, "within Euphrates", and the Arabians Coelo-Syria and Phoenicia. Now here these were bound; they were not suffered to pass the river, or to make any inroads of any consequence further into the Roman empire; they were restrained, by the decree of God, from proceeding any further till this time; which, as he fixes a decreed place for the sea, that its waves should come thus far, and no further, so he restrains princes from their enterprises, and settles the bounds of empires, as long as he pleases; and they were kept back by the power of God from pouring in upon the empire, and pouring forth their fury upon it, who causes the wrath of men to praise him, and restrains the remainder of it; and they were also prevented from coming any further, as yet, through the internal divisions among themselves, and by the victories of the Christians in Palestine.

a Petav. Rationem. Temp. par. 1. l. 9. c. 7. b Pocock, Supplem. Hist. Dynast. Abulpharaji, p. 41, 42. c Rufi Fest. Brev. p. 368. Eutrop. Hist. Roman. l. 8. p. 502. d Nicephor. Gregor. Hist. Roman, l. 2. p. 29.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet - See the notes at Revelation 8:2.

Loose, ... - This power, it would seem, was given to the sixth angel in addition to his office of blowing the trumpet. All this, of course, was in vision, and cannot be literally interpreted. The meaning is, that the effect of his blowing the trumpet would be the same as if angels that had been bound should be suddenly loosed and suffered to go forth over the earth; that is, some event would occur which would be properly symbolized by such an act.

The four angels - Compare the notes at Revelation 8:2. It was customary to represent important events as occurring under the ministry of angels. The general meaning here is, that in the vicinity of the river Euphrates there were mighty powers which had been bound or held in check, which were now to be let loose upon the world. What we are to look for in the fulfillment is evidently this - some power that seemed to be kept back by an invisible influence as if by angels, now suddenly let loose and suffered to accomplish the purpose of desolation mentioned in the subsequent verses. It is not necessary to suppose that angels were actually employed in these restraints, though no one can demonstrate that their agency was not concerned in the transactions here referred to. Compare the notes on Daniel 10:12-13. It has been made a question why the number four is specified, and whether the forces were in any sense made up of four divisions, nations, or people. While nothing certain can be determined in regard to that, and while the number four may be used merely to denote a great and strong force, yet it must be admitted that the most obvious interpretation would be to refer it to some combination of forces, or to some union of powers, that was to accomplish what is here said. If it had been a single nation, it would have been more in accordance with the usual method in prophecy to have represented them as restrained by an angel, or by angels in general, without specifying any number.

Which are bound - That is, they seemed to be bound. There was something which held them, and the forces under them, in check, until they were thus commanded to go forth. In the fulfillment of this it will be necessary to look for something of the nature of a check or restraint on these forces, until they were commissioned to go forth to accomplish the work of destruction.

In the great river Euphrates - The well-known river of that name, commonly called, in the Scriptures, “the great river,” and, by way of eminence, “the river,” Exodus 23:31; Isaiah 8:7. This river was on the east of Palestine; and the language used here naturally denotes that the power referred to under the sixth trumpet would spring up in the East, and that it would have its origin in the vicinity of that river. Those interpreters, therefore, who apply this to the invasion of Judaea by the Romans have great difficulty in explaining this - as the forces employed in the destruction of Jerusalem came from the West, and not from the East. The fair interpretation is, that there were forces in the vicinity of the Euphrates which were, up to this period, bound or restrained, but which were now suffered to spread woe and sorrow over a considerable portion of the world.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 9:14. Loose the four angels — These four angels bound-hitherto restrained, in the Euphrates, are by some supposed to be the Arabs, the Saracens, the Tartars, or the Turks; by others, Vespasian's four generals, one in Arabia, one in Africa, one in Alexandria, and one in Palestine.