always mentioned ; but instead of puXSv, oyXoi is used once, and SuffiXsTg once. The number of four , therefore, is always preserved, having regard to the four quarters of the world. The number of three is used, Dan. iii. 4, 7, 29, the tribes (in Hebrew) being ex- cepted ; that is, the Israelites.
10. Abroug — y.a! (3a<n\sv<rov<nv) See App. Crit., Ed. ii., on this passage. Comp. Matt, xxiii. 37, and Jude ver. 24. So also sv ccurjjy for sv Co/, ch xviii. 24 ; r\ Xsyovffa sv rr\ xccpdicp avrtjgy for Gov, Isa. xlvii. 8, 10. In this passage the Hebrew construction of the third person for the first has a graphic relation to the redeemed , and at the same time has a more modest sound, than us , priests ,* etc. — (3aGiX&4av) Thus the Alex. Lat. Cyprian read, as ch. i. 6. The more recent copies here also have fiaciXsTg .1 2 But they wdio cast their crowns before the throne do not call themselves kings , in the sight of the great King , although their priestly access has such dignity, that the powder of reigning on earth cannot certainly exceed it. In like manner, in ch. xx. 6, they who have part in the first resur- rection are called priests , and are said to be about to reign ; and yet the name of kings is not given to them. — scri rrtg ySjc, upon the earth) ’E nr) here denotes locality, as ch. iii. 10 and everywhere : or rather power, as ch. ii. 26 ; as it is said, (3ugiXsvsi enl rqg TcuSa/ac, Matt. ii. 22. And thus the Septuagint, Judg. ix. 8 ; 1 Sam. viii. 7, xii. 12, 14 ; 2 Kings viii. 20, xi. 3. I should not therefore venture to assert, from this phrase, that these remain on the earth, though they rule over the earth. The elders were meek (comp. Matt. v. 5) : but the flock of the meek independently is much larger.
11. Mup/uSsg yvpiaScov xa/ yiXiudsg yiXiudoov) fivpiotg is ten thousand ; /m jpiddeg (if only you understand dvo , as ch. xii. 14, xa ipovg, that is, dvo) are twenty thousand. Thence myriads of myriads are 200,000,000 ; and so moreover thousands of thousands, 2,000,000. The lesser number added to the greater forbids both of them from being taken too indefinitely.
12. ’'A^iog) ’ Apviov is neuter; whence many have written af/ov : but ci^iog regards the meaning itself.3 — rjjv bvva^iv xa/ nXovrov, x.r.A.)
1 AB Amiat. MS. of Vulg. Memph. Syr. read uvrovg. Rec. Text, with h Cypr. 291, reads yipc&g. — E.
2 Which reading , though it was preferred in Ed. maj., was yet thought inferior to the other, both in the Gnom. and in Ed. ii. and Vers. Germ. — E. B.
A Vulg. h, Memph. Cypr. read /3 xatXiiuv. B supports Rec. Text, fiouriXiig.