Revelation 10
King James Version
10 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:
2 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,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
4 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.
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 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:
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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.
11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Revelation 10
Young's Literal Translation
10 And I saw another strong messenger coming down out of the heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow upon the head, and his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire,
2 and he had in his hand a little scroll opened, and he did place his right foot upon the sea, and the left upon the land,
3 and he cried with a great voice, as a lion doth roar, and when he cried, speak out did the seven thunders their voices;
4 and when the seven thunders spake their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice out of the heaven saying to me, `Seal the things that the seven thunders spake,' and, `Thou mayest not write these things.'
5 And the messenger whom I saw standing upon the sea, and upon the land, did lift up his hand to the heaven,
6 and did swear in Him who doth live to the ages of the ages, who did create the heaven and the things in it, and the land and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it -- that time shall not be yet,
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh messenger, when he may be about to sound, and the secret of God may be finished, as He did declare to His own servants, to the prophets.
8 And the voice that I heard out of the heaven is again speaking with me, and saying, `Go, take the little scroll that is open in the hand of the messenger who hath been standing upon the sea, and upon the land:'
9 and I went away unto the messenger, saying to him, `Give me the little scroll;' and he saith to me, `Take, and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet -- as honey.'
10 And I took the little scroll out of the hand of the messenger, and did eat it up, and it was in my mouth as honey -- sweet, and when I did eat it -- my belly was made bitter;
11 and he saith to me, `It behoveth thee again to prophesy about peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings -- many.'
Revelation 10
New King James Version
The Mighty Angel with the Little Book
10 I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. (A)And a rainbow was on (B)his head, his face was like the sun, and (C)his feet like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little book open in his hand. (D)And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, (E)seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 Now when the seven thunders [a]uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying [b]to me, (F)“Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”
5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land (G)raised up his [c]hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, (H)who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, (I)that there should be delay no longer, 7 but (J)in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.
John Eats the Little Book
8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.”
9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.”
And he said to me, (K)“Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, (L)and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, (M)my stomach became bitter. 11 And [d]he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
Footnotes
- Revelation 10:4 NU, M sounded,
- Revelation 10:4 NU, M omit to me
- Revelation 10:5 NU, M right hand
- Revelation 10:11 NU, M they
Revelation 10
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 10
A Small Scroll: Sweet and Bitter.[a] 1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like pillars of fire, 2 and his hand held a small scroll that had been opened.
Placing his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 the angel gave forth a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders spoke. 4 After the seven thunders had spoken, I was preparing to write when I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have spoken, but do not write it down.”
5 Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever and who created heaven and earth and the sea and everything that is in them: “There will be no further delay. 7 When the time comes for the seventh angel to sound his trumpet, the mysterious purpose of God[b] will be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the Prophets.”
8 Then I again heard the voice that had spoken to me from heaven, and it said, “Go and take that open scroll from the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 Therefore, I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll. He replied, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”
10 I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it did taste as sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, “You must prophesy once again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Footnotes
- Revelation 10:1 The large scroll, whose seven seals are being broken one after another, is said to contain the entire History of Salvation, which unfolds from Christ’s Death and Resurrection to the day of the final judgment. This history is brought to mind from the viewpoint of the destiny of the Jewish people, but the last episode in this history includes the judgment and salvation of the nations, which are here set forth.
An angel brings forth and unrolls another text; the messenger dominates heaven and the sea, i.e., his announcement concerns the whole universe. The scroll that the angel is holding here contains the story of clashes between the Church and the forces that control the pagan world. It is a small scroll, because the events told in it are connected with the history of Israel, in which the end of Jerusalem introduces the era of the nations.
There will be no more delay. Everything remains secret, yet everything will be played out between the sixth and the seventh trumpet. The scene of the scroll that is eaten was inspired by an account of Ezekiel (2:8—3:3). The revelation is sweet and bitter: sweet because it is a word of salvation and makes known the final triumph of Christ and his faithful; bitter because it announces the trials and tribulations that in so many texts of the Bible precede the judgment of God. The Gospel speaks of the joy of the woman giving birth in sorrow (Jn 16:21). - Revelation 10:7 The mysterious purpose of God: literally, “the mystery of God,” i.e., the end of the present age when the power of evil will be overcome (see Rev 17:1—19:4, 11-21; 20:7-10; Rom 16:25f; 2 Thes 2:6-12) and the Kingdom of God is established and all creation is renewed (see Rev 21:1—22:5).
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
