What Does Revelation 5:11 Mean?
And I see, and I hear the voice of many messengers around the throne, and the living creatures, and the older ones, and their number is ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;THE KEY
The host around the throne is a multitude of messengers gathered into one voice.
THE MEANING
You are shown a throne ringed by messengers, and sight meets hearing: the multitude is not only seen but heard as one voice. The repeated ten-thousand language carries the gathering beyond ordinary counting, placing an overwhelming witness around the throne.
THE ROOT
ἄγγελοι
angeloi
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ-
angel-
Messenger; the word family also carries the sense of announcing or reporting.
The word translated “angels” names messengers, bringing their role as bearers of a message into view. Their number is beyond counting, yet they gather around the throne as a host of messengers.
ALSO GROWS
angelos: Messenger
ἄγγελος
This is the singular form of the word used for the many gathered around the throne.
angellō: Announce, report
ἀγγέλλω
This related verb makes explicit the announcing carried by a messenger.
angelia: Message, report
ἀγγελία
This related noun shows the message that belongs to the messenger’s work.
φωνή
phōnē
GROWS FROM
φων-
phōn-
Voice or sound.
The Greek gives the many messengers one singular voice. The multitude remains many, yet the sound gathers them into one utterance around the throne.
ALSO GROWS
phōnē: Voice, sound
φωνή
This is the word translated “voice” in the verse.
phōneō: Call aloud, cry out
φωνέω
This related verb shows voice as sound sent outward.
ekphōneō: Utter aloud, proclaim
ἐκφωνέω
This related verb brings the voice’s public, spoken quality into focus.
THE PATTERN
Heavenly messengers gather around God’s action in a host too great for ordinary counting.
A river of fire flowed and came out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment sat down, and the scrolls were opened.But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the Jerusalem of the heavens, and to myriads of messengers.And suddenly there was with the messenger a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying,THE THREAD
And the messenger answered him, I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good word.“Angel” in both verses translates the Greek angelos, messenger. Luke makes the word’s work visible in Gabriel’s being sent to speak, opening the multitude around the throne as a host of messengers.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us