Ver. ττ. This outer circle of myriads (the following χιλιάδες is an anti-climax) of angelic retainers—a favourite trait in the later Jewish pageants of heaven—does not address praise directly to the Lamb.
Sus. ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ
387 pupiddes µυριάδων καὶ χιλιάδες χιλιάδων, 12. "λέγοντες φωνῇ b From _ µεγάλη, ah ee.
“Αξιός ] ἐστιν τὸ ἀρνίον τὸ ἐσφαγμένον λαβεῖν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ oy ae Ἁπλοῦτον καὶ "σοφίαν καὶ ἰσχὺν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν καὶ Hedko- ο Consth
ί ad sens. = πό λεγοντες. I Kat wa ί ὁ ερ τῷ οὐ Ω Αα ~ Lge d Rom, x. as πᾶν κτίσμα ὃ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ © ὑπο- x2, ti 33 ἢ η ὶ η ο il. iv κάτω τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς πάντα, ἤκουσα το, Eph. = iii. 8. eas e Cf. onvii.
a a a 12. “T@ καθηµένω ἐπὶ τῷ θρόνῳ” καὶ τῷ ἀρνίῳ Ἰ ἡ εὐλογία καὶ HE vii’ 1,
A ~ - τιμὴ καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. . Se ary 10, Eph. i. ν Ακ. 8 21, cf. ver. 3 and Ps. cxlv. 4, Ign. Trall. ix. 1. h Irreg. apposition like xvii. 10, xix. 14, etc. iOn
art. cf. Win. § 18, 42.
‘agtos A (Bg., Ti., WH marg., Ws.), constr. ad sensum [αξιος ει, S.], is prefer- able to the easier αξιον of 9Ο), min., Syr.
2 rw θρονω AQ, min., Andc (edd.) is preferable to του θρονου of WP, 1, etc., S.,
Areth. (WH text, Bj.).
Ver. 12. For similar arrangements in Jewish doxologies, see Gfrorer, ii. 146-8 ; and, for ἰσχ. Ty. δόξ. see Dan. ii. 37 (LXX). τήν groups together the seven words of the panegyric; honour and glory and praise are due to one whose victorious death has won him the power of bestowing incalculable riches on his people and of unriddling the future, against all opposition (Weiss). The refrain of δύν. is heard in xi. 17, and δόξα had been already associated with “wealth” and ‘‘power” (Eph. i. τὸ f.) or ““wisdom”’ (2 Cor. iii. 7 f., iv. 4, etc.) in Christ (contrast Isa. lili. 2 LXX). The act of taking the book (ver. 7) suggests the general authority and prestige of the Lamb, which is acknowledged in this doxology. The order in 12, 13 is the same as in Ps. ΟΙ. 20-22, where the angels are followed by creation in the worship. When God's creatures and servants magnify, praise, and bless him, yielding themselves to his dominion, and ac- knowledging that to him all the strength and wealth and wisdom of life rightly belong, God is honoured. Christ was glorified by God (cf. Acts iii. 13, Rom. vi. 4, John xvii. 1) at the resurrection, when God’s power raised him to eternal life; he is glorified by men in their hom- age and submission to him as the sole medium of redemption and revelation.
Ver. 13. From the whole creation a third doxology rises, catching up the last word (εὐλογίᾳ) of the preceding, and ad- dressed—as in the primitive and distinc- tive confessions of early Christianity
(e.g., John xvii. 3, 1 Tim. ii. 5) to God and Jesus alike (vii. το). In this chorus of praise (i. 6), by a sweep of the poet’s imagination, even departed spirits and sea-monsters (ἐπὶ τ. θαλ., rather than seafaring men) join—‘‘even all that is in” earth and sea and heaven (cf. the title of the sun in the Rosetta inscription of 196 B.c., péyas βασιλεὺς τῶν τε ἄνω κ. T. κάτω χωρῶν). Sacrifice is on the throne of the universe; by dying for men, Jesus has won the heart and confi- dence of the world. Thus the praise of God the creator (ch. iv.) and the praise of Jesus the redeemer (ch. v.) blend in one final song, whose closing words indi- cate that the latter's prestige was not confined to a passing phase of history. The crime for which the messiah de- thrones the rulers (in Enoch xlvi.) is just ‘‘because they do not praise and extol him, nor thankfully acknowledge whence the kingdom was bestowed upon them, . . - because they do not extol the name of the Lord of Spirits”. In the papyrus of Ani (E. B. D. 3) Ra is worshipped by the gods ‘‘who dwell in the heights and who dwell in the depths ”; whilst Isis and Osiris, as possessing supreme power, received honour “‘in the regions under the earth and in those above ground” (Plut. de Iside, 27). Compare the fine rabbinic saying of Rabbi Pinchas and R. Jochanan on Ps. ο. 2: ‘though all offerings cease in the future, the offering of praise alone shall not cease; though all prayers cease, thanksgiving alone shall not cease”.