Revelation 9:16

Wesley's New Testament

And the number of the army of horsemen was two hundred millions: I heard their number.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.

King James Version (1611)
And the number of the armie of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

King James Version
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

New American Standard Bible
The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

New Century Version
I heard how many troops on horses were in their army—two hundred million.

English Standard Version
The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

Berean Standard Bible
And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.

Contemporary English Version
By listening, I could tell there were more than two hundred million of these war horses.

Complete Jewish Bible
and the number of cavalry soldiers was two hundred million! — I heard the number.

Darby Translation
and the number of the hosts of horse [was] twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

Easy-to-Read Version
I heard how many troops on horses were in their army. There were 200,000,000.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the nomber of horsemen of warre were twentie thousand times ten thousand: for I heard the nomber of them.

George Lamsa Translation
And the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

Good News Translation
I was told the number of the mounted troops: it was two hundred million.

Lexham English Bible
And the number of the troops of the cavalry was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

Literal Translation
And the number of the armies of the cavalry was two myriads of myriads; and I heard their number.

Amplified Bible
The number of the troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (two hundred million); I heard the number of them.

American Standard Version
And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them.

Bible in Basic English
And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: the number of them came to my ears.

Hebrew Names Version
The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.

International Standard Version
The number of cavalry troops was 200,000,000. I heard how many there were.heard their number">[fn]Psalm 68:17; Ezekiel 38:4; Daniel 7:10; Revelation 7:4;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And the number of the host of the horsemen was two myriads of myriads. I heard the number of them.

Murdock Translation
And the number of the warrior horsemen was two myriads of myriads: and I heard their number.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the number of horsemen of warre were twentie thousand times ten thousande, & I hearde the number of them.

English Revised Version
And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them.

World English Bible
The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.

Weymouth's New Testament
The number of the cavalry was two hundred millions; I heard their number.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the noumbre of the oost of horse men was twenti thousynde sithis ten thousynde. Y herde the noumbre of hem.

Update Bible Version
And the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million: I heard the number of them.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the number of the army of the horsemen [was] two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

New English Translation
The number of soldiers on horseback was two hundred million; I heard their number.

New King James Version
Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

New Living Translation
I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.

New Life Bible
The army had 200 million soldiers on horses. I heard them say how many there were.

New Revised Standard
The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, the number of the armies of the horsemen, was twice ten thousand times ten thousand - I heard the number of them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. And I heard the number of them.

Revised Standard Version
The number of the troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And the nombre of horsme of warre were twenty tymes xM. And I herde the nobre of them.

Young's Literal Translation
and the number of the forces of the horsemen [is] two myriads of myriads, and I heard the number of them.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the nombre of horsmen of warre, were twenty tymes x M. And I herde ye nombre of them.

Mace New Testament (1729)
and the number of the horse of that army were two hundred millions: for I heard them number'd.

Simplified Cowboy Version
These four angels took the form of two hundred million horses and their riders. Their breastplates shone like hot iron, blue as sapphire and yellow like glowing sulfur.

Contextual Overview

¹³ And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four corners of the golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴ Saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates. ¹⁵ And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, to kill the third part of men. ¹⁶ And the number of the army of horsemen was two hundred millions: I heard their number. ¹⁷ And thus I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them, having breast-plates of fire and hyacinth and brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths goeth fire, and smoke and brimstone. ¹⁸ By these three plagues were the third part of men killed, by the fire, and the smoke, and the brimstone which went out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do hurt. ²⁰ And the rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which can neither hear, nor see, nor walk: ²¹ Neither repented of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the number: Psalms 68:17, Daniel 7:10

horsemen: Ezekiel 23:6, Ezekiel 38:4, Daniel 11:40

I heard: Revelation 7:4

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 12:3 - without number

Cross-References

Hebrews 13:20
Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, by the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 פרש, 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 an ensign expressive of their military exploits, and showing where their main strength lies. And the number of this mighty army, it is said,

[were] two hundred thousand thousand; or "two myriads of myriads"; two hundred millions, or twenty thousand brigades of ten thousand each; that is, a very large and prodigious number, almost infinite and incredible, like the army of Gog and Magog, as the sand of the sea,

Revelation 20:8. The Turks used to bring, and still do bring vast armies into the field: in the year 1396, Bajazet, with three hundred thousand men, fell upon sixty thousand Christians, killed twenty thousand of them, and lost sixty thousand of his own: against him afterward, in the year 1397, came Tamerlane the Tartar, with four hundred thousand horse, and six hundred thousand foot, and having killed two hundred thousand Turks, took Bajazet prisoner, and carried him about in a cage, in golden chains. In the year 1438, Amurath entered into Pannonia, with three hundred thousand horsemen: and in the year 1453, Mahomet took Constantinople with the like number h; yea, it is said, that the army at the siege of that city consisted of forty myriads, or four hundred thousand men i. It is reported, that the great Turk contemptuously sent to the emperor of the Romans a camel, or a dromedary, loaden with wheat, with this vow by a message, that he should bring against him as many fighting men as there were grains of wheat therein k. And it is related l, that when Ladislaus, king of Hungary, went out against Amurath with four and twenty thousand horse, Dracula, governor of Walachia, advised him not to attack the emperor of the Turks with so small an army, since he went out every day a hunting with more men than such a number:

and I heard the number of them; expressed by some angel, and therefore John was certain of it, otherwise he could not have told them.

e Laonic. Chalcocondylas de reb. Turc. l. 1. p. 6. f Ib. l. 7. p. 227, 255. g Laonic. Chalcocond. l. 2. p. 65. h Alsted. Chronol. p. 321. i Laonic. Chalcocond. l. 7. p. 255. k Napier in loc. l Bonfinius apud Pareum in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the number of the army of the horsemen - It is to be observed here that the strength of the army seemed to be cavalry. In the former plagues there is no distinct mention of horsemen; but here what struck the beholder was the immense and unparalleled number of horsemen.

Were two hundred thousand thousand - A thousand thousand is one million, and consequently the number here referred to would be 200 million. This would be a larger army than was ever assembled, and it cannot be supposed that it is to be taken literally. That it would be a very large host - so large that it would not be readily numbered - is clear. The expression in the original, while it naturally conveys the idea of an immense number, would seem also to refer to some uniqueness in the manner of reckoning them. The language is, “two myriads of myriads” - δύο μυριάδες μυριάδων duo muriades muriadōn. The myriad was ten thousand. The idea would seem to be this. John saw an immense host of cavalry. They appeared to be divided into large bodies that were in some degree separate, and that might be reckoned by ten thousands. Of these different squadrons there were many, and to express their great and unusual numbers he said that there seemed to be myriads of them - two myriads of myriads, or twice ten thousand myriads. The army thus would seem to be immense - an army, as we should say, to be reckoned by tens of thousands.

And I heard the number of them - They were so numerous that he did not pretend to be able to estimate the number himself, for it was beyond his power of computation; but he heard it stated in these round numbers, that there were “two myriads of myriads” of them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 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.