Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 5:13

καὶ ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς. א cop[215] arm[216] omit these words.

[215] Coptic.
[216] Armenian.

τῆς θαλάσσης. Lachmann adds ἐστιν with A; Text. Rec[217] adds ἄ ἐστιν with B2.

[217] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.

πάντα. Tisch[218] adds καὶ with א and B2, which reads πάντα καὶ πάντας.

[218] Tischendorf: eighth edition; where the text aud notes differ the latter are cited.

13. πᾶν κτίσμα. Cf. Philippians 2:10-11.

ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς. See on Revelation 5:3. It seems harsh to understand the words of an unwilling cooperation of the devils in glorifying God and His Son, besides that Jude 1:6 seems hardly to prove that all fallen spirits are yet confined “under the earth”: Matthew 8:29 compared with Luke 8:31, not to mention the “Wars in Heaven” Revelation 12:7; Revelation 12:9, suggests the contrary. It is more possible to suppose the dead, even the holy dead, to be described as “under the earth,” Psalms 22:29. In Enoch lxii. we have a hymn, somewhat resembling those of this Book, actually sung by the souls of the lost—apparently in the intervals of their suffering. The souls of the Martyrs appear from this Book to be in Heaven, Revelation 6:9 sqq.: but we cannot be sure that this is true of all the faithful, and it is not certain that a disembodied soul can be said, except figuratively, to be in any place at all: so that the place where their bodies lie is perhaps the only place where the dead can properly be said to be.

ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης. This, like ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, includes both human and animal life: the former is the explanation of λέγοντας in the masculine just below.

ἡ εὐλογία κ.τ.λ. The article is repeated with each noun intentionally. Whatever power and riches …, whatever blessing and honour … the world contains, all belong of right to Him. Watts’ “Blessings more than we can give” is a perfectly legitimate development of the sense.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 5:13

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