Translation of Revelation 19:9

Polycarp66 at aol.com Polycarp66 at aol.com
Wed Apr 19 20:13:27 EDT 2000


In a message dated 4/19/2000 5:35:43 PM Central Standard Time, 
kflowers at alum.mit.edu writes:

<<  I need to understand a 
 nuance of translation that I can't seem to get from Strongs or a Greek 
 parallel.  King James and others translate Rev. 19:9 as "...he said..."  
 NIV and others translate the same as "...the angel said..."  I can't see 
 any justification in the Greek I've seen for "the angel."  >>

Although it is true that Rev. 19.9 reads

KAI LEGEI MOI, GRAYON, MAKARIOI hOI EIS TO DEIPNON TOU GAMOU TOU ARNIOU 
KEKLHMENOI.  KAI LEGEI MOI hOUTOI hOI LOGOI ALHQINOI TOU QEOU EISIN.

And ** HE ** said, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage 
feast of the Lamb.'"  And ** HE ** said to me, "These are the true words of 
God."

with no mention of whom this "HE" might be in this immediate section, you 
must go back to Rev. 18.21.  There it states

KAI HREN hEIS AGGELOS ISXUROS LIQON hWS MULINON MEGAN KAI EBALEN EIS THN 
QALASSAN LEGWN, "hOUTWS hORMHMATI BLHQHSETAI BABULWN hH MEGALH POLIS KAI OU 
MH hEUREQHi ETI. 

Then a strong angel lifted a stone like a great millstone and cast it into 
the sea saying, 
"Thus violently shall be cast down Babylon, the great city 
And it shall never be found again."

This is the antecedent to LEGEI in Rev. 19.9.  While the verse does not 
itself contain the word AGGELOS, it does refer back to it.  Apparently the 
translators felt the necessity to make this clear due to the intervening 
section describing the reaction to the casting of the millstone into the sea 
and the pronouncement of judgement against "Babylon."

gfsomsel



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