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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 5
Verse Commentaries:
Chapter Level Commentary:
Rev_5:2. Before φωνῇ , in the Elz. text, and according to A, à , 2, 4, 6, 7, al., together with Beng., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.], ἐν is to be placed.
The ἐστιν after τίς (Elz.), which is absent in A, à , 10, 12, Orig., al., and, in some witnesses, stands only after ἄξιος , is an interpolation, and to be deleted (Beng., Treg., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.], etc.).
Rev_5:4. Instead of πολλά (Elz.), read πολύ , according to à , 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, al., Andr. (Beng., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]).
The addition καὶ ἀναγνῶναι after ἀνοῖξαι (Elz.) is, after decisive witnesses, rejected already by Beng., Griesb., etc.
Rev_5:5. ὁ ἐκ τ . φυλ . So A, 2, 4, 6, al., Bengel, Griesb., the more recent. Incorrectly, Elz.: ὁ ὤν . Perhaps the art. also is to be deleted ( à ).
The variation ὁ ἀνοίγων (B, 2, 4, 6, 8, al., Areth.) is improperly preferred (Matth., Tisch., 1859) to the reading ἀνοίξαι (A, à , al., Lach.), as it is manifestly a modification.
The λῦσαι before τὰς ἕ . σφ . (Elz.) is certainly false, notwithstanding à .
Rev_5:6. After καὶ εἱδον , the Elz. text has introduced (cf. Rev_6:5; Rev_6:8, Rev_14:1; Rev_14:14) κιὰ ἰδού , against A, à , 2, 4, 6, al. The question, however, is whether, with Beng., Tisch., etc., to delete both words, or, with Lach. (according to A: καὶ εἱδον , καὶ ; cf. Rev_6:12, Rev_5:11, Rev_6:1, Rev_8:13), only the ἰδού .
οἵ εἰσιν τὰ ἑπτὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πνεύματα τὰ ἀπεσταλμένα . So Elz. The οἵ is here correctly (Beng., Lach., Tisch., 1859 [W. and H.]) according to à , A; the ἅ , on the other hand (2, 3, 4, al., Areth., ed. Comp., Matth., Tisch., 1854), is, like the isolated ἅτινα (in Matth.), a correction. The ἑπτὰ before πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ , for this is the right order of words (A, à , Beng., Matth., Lach., Tisch.), is wanting in A, 12, and may be an interpolation (cf. Rev_1:4, Rev_4:5); but probably it is here ( à ) just as, in Rev_4:5, Tisch. has it correctly in the text. Instead of ἀπεσταλμένα ( à , Beng., Tisch. IX.), before which the art. only is inserted, Lach. reads ἀπεσταλμένοι according to A, Matth.: Tisch.: ἀποστελλόμενα according to B and a considerable number of minusc. Yet the latter reading appears to be a modification, while the form ἀπεσταλμένοι is scarcely allowable in the language of the Apoc., and appears to be an error occasioned by the preceding οἱ .
Rev_5:7. The interpretation τὸ βιβλίον after εἴληφεν (Elz., Beng.), also placed at the close of the verse (ed. Compl., al.), is lacking in A, à , 2, 4, 6, al., Vulg. (Griesb., Matth., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]).
Rev_5:8. Instead of κιθάρας (Elz.), read, according to A, à , 2, 4, 6, al., Copt., al., κιθάραν (Beng., Matth., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]).
Rev_5:9-10. Elz.: ἠγόρασας τῷ θεῷ ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου ἐκ πασ . φυλ .
καὶ ἐποίησας ἡμᾶς τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν βασιλεῖς καὶ ἱερεῖς καὶ βασιλεύσομεν ἐπὶ της γὴς . Incorrect here is: First, the ἡμᾶς , Rev_5:9 ( à ), which is wanting in A, Areth. (rejected already by Mill, Prol., 1111, Lach., Tisch.), which was inserted (cf. Rev_1:6); and which Primas, Vulg., have before God (and that, too, that with him “they shall reign over them,” Rev_5:10), because a more accurate determination of the object is wished than is found in the words ἐκ πασ . φυλ ., κ . τ . λ . Secondly, the ἡμᾶς (Rev_5:10), for which, according to A, à , 2, 4, al., Syr., Vulg. (var. nos), Copt., Ar., Aeth., Andr., ed. Compl., etc., αὐτοὺς is to be written (Mill, 1. c, Matth., Beng., Griesb., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]). Probably false is, thirdly, the τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν ( à ) lacking in A (Tisch.; retained by Lach., Tisch. IX. [W. and H.]). Instead of the correction βασιλεῖς , read, according to A, à , Vulg., al., βασιλείνα (Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]); cf. Rev_1:6. Finally, read βασιλεύουσιν , according to A, 7, 8, 9, al., Syr., ed. Compl. (Mill, l. c., Matth., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]). Because objection was made to the pres., βασιλεύσουσιν was written ( à , 2, 4, 5, 6, Cypr., Vulg., Beng., Griesb.), and then, corresponding to the introduced ἡμᾶς : βασιλεύσομεν .
Rev_5:12. Ἄξιον . It is worthy of note, that A has ἄξιος (so ed. Erasm. I., Ald.), defended by Bengel in his Gnomon, and received by Tisch., 1859, IX.
Rev_5:13. The ἐστὶν after ὃ (Elz., Beng.) is without authenticity; it belongs after θαλάσσης , and that, too, without the ἅ preceding in the rec. So according to A, 2, 4, 6, al., Verss.; already Matth.; also Tisch., 1854 [W. and H.], who, however, in 1859, has received the ἅ (B, al.). à : τὸ ἐν τ . οὐρ .
καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ θαλ . καὶ τὰ ἐν αυτ .
Instead of the rec., τὰ ἐν αὐτ . πάντα ἤκουσα λέγοντεας , Lach. has written, in accordance with A, τὰ ἐν αὐτ . πάντα ἤκ . λέγοντα ; Matth., Beng., Tisch., in accordance with 2, 4, 7, al., τὰ ἐν αὐτοις , πάντας ἤκ . λέγοντας . In favor of the latter reading is its greater difficulty when compared with that of Cod. A. à interprets: κ . τὰ ἐν αὐτ . πάντα , καὶ ἤκ . λέγοντας .
Amidst the songs of praise of the heavenly ones, the Lamb receives from the hand of God the book to be opened by him, in which stands written “what must come to pass” (cf. Rev_4:1).