Revelation 10
Vincent's Word Studies
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
A cloud

The expression occurs seven times in Revelation, and in all of them is connected with the Son of Man.

Rainbow

See on Revelation 4:3.

Pillars of fire

Compare Revelation 1:15.

And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
In his hand (ἐν)

The roll of Revelation 5:1-14 was on the hand (ἐπί, see Revelation 5:1), being too large to be grasped within it. The roll was on the right hand; the little book is in the left. See on Revelation 10:5.

And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Cried (ἔκραξεν)

See on Mark 5:5.

As when

The when of A.V. is unnecessary.

Roareth (μυκᾶται)

Only here in the New Testament. Peter uses ὠρύομαι for the voice of the lion. See on 1 Peter 5:8. The verb here is originally applied to the lowing of cattle, expressing the sound, moo-ka-omai. Both Aristophanes and Theocritus use it of the roar of the lion, and the former of thunder. Homer, of the ring of the shield and the hissing of meat on the spit.

Seven thunders

The Jews were accustomed to speak of thunder as "the seven voices." Compare the sevenfold "voice of the Lord," Psalm 29:1-11.

As usual, interpretation has run wild as to the seven thunders. As a few illustrations may be cited: Vitringa, the seven crusades; Daubuz, the seven kingdoms which received the Reformation; Elliott, the bull fulminated against Luther from the seven-hilled city, etc.

And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
To write

According to the injunction in Revelation 1:11.

And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
His hand

Add τὴν δεξιὰν the right, and see on Revelation 10:2. On lifting the hand in swearing, see Genesis 14:22; Exodus 6:8 (margin); Deuteronomy 32:40.

And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Swear by (ὤμοσεν ἐν)

Lit., "swear in," a Hebrew idiom.

Should be time no longer (χρόνος οὐκ ἔσται ἔπι)

Rev., correctly, shall be, etc. The meaning is not, as popularly understood, that time shall cease to exist, but that there shall be no more delay (so Rev., in margin) before the fulfillment of the divine purposes respecting the Church on earth. Possibly with allusion to the cry how long (Revelation 6:10).

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Shall begin to sound ((μέλλῃ σαλπίζεν)

Wrong. Rev., correctly, when he is about to sound.

The mystery (τὸ μυστήριον)

See on Matthew 13:11.

Declared (εὐηγγέλισεν)

The word used of declaring the good news of salvation. Here of declaring the mystery of the kingdom.

And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Spake unto me

Render, as Rev., "I heard it again speaking."

And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
I went (ἀπῆλθον)

The preposition ἀπό has the force of away. I went away from the place where I was standing.

Eat it up

Compare Ezekiel 3:1-3; Jeremiah 15:16.

And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886].
Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive.

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