Not a fresh sentence connected with the following words as in A.V., but connected with the first and the last by καὶ and. Rev., and the living One. Compare Joh 1:4; Joh 14:6; Joh 5:26.
And l was dead (καὶ ἐγενόμην νεκρὸς)
Strictly, I became. So Rev., in margin. Compare Phi 2:8, “became obedient unto death.”
For evermore
See on Rev 1:6.
Amen
Omit.
The keys of Hell and Death
Rev., correctly, of Death and of Hades. Conceived as a prison-house or a walled city. See on Mat 16:18. The keys are the symbol of authority. See Mat 16:19; Rev 3:7; Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1. The Rabbinical proverb said: “There are four keys lodged in God's hand, which He committeth neither to angel nor to seraph: the key of the rain, the key of food, the key of the tombs, and the key of a barren woman.”