KJV: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
YLT: and they have over them a king -- the messenger of the abyss -- a name is to him in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath a name, Apollyon.
Darby: They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in Greek he has for name Apollyon.
ASV: They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon.
ἔχουσιν | They have |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: ἔχω Sense: to have, i.e. to hold. |
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ἐπ’ | over |
Parse: Preposition Root: ἐπί Sense: upon, on, at, by, before. |
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βασιλέα | a king |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: βασιλεύς Sense: leader of the people, prince, commander, lord of the land, king. |
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ἄγγελον | angel |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: ἄγγελος Sense: a messenger, envoy, one who is sent, an angel, a messenger from God. |
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τῆς | of the |
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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ἀβύσσου | Abyss |
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular Root: ἄβυσσος Sense: bottomless. |
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ὄνομα | [The] name |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: ὄνομα Sense: name: univ. |
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αὐτῷ | of Him |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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Ἑβραϊστί | in Hebrew |
Parse: Adverb Root: Ἑβραϊστί Sense: in Hebrew, i. |
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Ἀβαδδών | [is] Abaddon |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: Ἀβαδδών Sense: ruin. |
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Ἑλληνικῇ | Greek |
Parse: Adjective, Dative Feminine Singular Root: Ἑλληνικός Sense: a Grecian. |
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ὄνομα | [the] name |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular Root: ὄνομα Sense: name: univ. |
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ἔχει | he has |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἔχω Sense: to have, i.e. to hold. |
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Ἀπολλύων | Apollyon |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: Ἀπολλύων Sense: the angel of the bottomless pit, the Destroyer. |
Greek Commentary for Revelation 9:11
Predicate accusative and anarthrous. In Proverbs 30:27 it is stated that the locust has no king, but this is not true of these demonic locusts. Their king is “the angel of the abyss (Revelation 9:1) whose orders they obey.” [source]
“Name to him” (nominative absolute and dative, as in Revelation 6:8).In Hebrew (Εβραιστι Ebraisti). Adverb as in Revelation 16:16; John 5:2; John 19:13, John 19:17, John 19:20; John 20:16. Αβαδδων Abaddōn A word almost confined to the Wisdom books (Job 26:6; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11). It is rendered in the lxx by Απωλεια Apōleia destruction.In the Greek tongue With γλωσσηι glōssēi or διαλεκτωι dialektōi understood. As usual, John gives both the Hebrew and the Greek.Apollyon (Απολλυων Apolluōn). Present active masculine singular participle of απολλυω apolluō meaning “destroying,” used here as a name and so “Destroyer,” with the nominative case retained though in apposition with the accusative ονομα onoma The personification of Abaddon occurs in the Talmud also. It is not clear whether by Apollyon John means Death or Satan. Bousset even finds in the name Apollyon an indirect allusion to Apollo, one of whose symbols was the locust, a doubtful point assuredly. [source]
Adverb as in Revelation 16:16; John 5:2; John 19:13, John 19:17, John 19:20; John 20:16. Αβαδδων Abaddōn A word almost confined to the Wisdom books (Job 26:6; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11). It is rendered in the lxx by Απωλεια Apōleia destruction. [source]
With γλωσσηι glōssēi or διαλεκτωι dialektōi understood. As usual, John gives both the Hebrew and the Greek.Apollyon (Απολλυων Apolluōn). Present active masculine singular participle of απολλυω apolluō meaning “destroying,” used here as a name and so “Destroyer,” with the nominative case retained though in apposition with the accusative ονομα onoma The personification of Abaddon occurs in the Talmud also. It is not clear whether by Apollyon John means Death or Satan. Bousset even finds in the name Apollyon an indirect allusion to Apollo, one of whose symbols was the locust, a doubtful point assuredly. [source]
Present active masculine singular participle of απολλυω apolluō meaning “destroying,” used here as a name and so “Destroyer,” with the nominative case retained though in apposition with the accusative ονομα onoma The personification of Abaddon occurs in the Talmud also. It is not clear whether by Apollyon John means Death or Satan. Bousset even finds in the name Apollyon an indirect allusion to Apollo, one of whose symbols was the locust, a doubtful point assuredly. [source]
Render, as Rev., they have over them as king. Compare Proverbs 30:27. Hence distinguished from the natural locusts. [source]
Used only by John. Compare John 5:2; John 19:13, John 19:17, John 19:20; Revelation 16:16. [source]
Meaning destruction. Compare Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Proverbs 15:11. Here the Destroyer, as is evident from the Greek equivalent Ἁπολλύων Apollyon destroyer. Perdition is personified. It is after John's manner to give the Hebrew with the Greek equivalent. Compare John 1:38, John 1:42; John 4:25; John 9:7; John 11:16, etc. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 9:11
Bengel argues that this proves a date before the destruction of Jerusalem, but it is probably only John‘s vivid memory. By the sheep gate Supply πυληι pulēi (gate) which occurs with the adjective προβατικη probatikē (pertaining to sheep, προβατα probata) in Nehemiah 3:1, Nehemiah 3:22. A pool A diving or swimming pool (from κολυμβαω kolumbaō to swim, Acts 27:43), old word, only here in N.T. Which is called “The surnamed” (present passive participle, only N.T. example except Acts 15:40 first aorist middle participle επιλεχαμενος epilexamenos). In Hebrew “In Aramaic” strictly as in John 19:13, John 19:17, John 19:20; John 20:16; Revelation 9:11; Revelation 16:16. Bethesda Aleph D L 33 have ετζατα Bethzatha or House of the Olive, while B W Vulg. Memph. have ετσαιδα Bethsaida Having five porches Στοα Stoa was a covered colonnade where people can gather from which Stoic comes (Acts 17:18). See John 10:23; Acts 3:11. Schick in 1888 found twin pools north of the temple near the fortress of Antonia one of which has five porches. It is not, however, certain that this pool existed before a.d. 70 when the temple was destroyed (Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels, p. 55). Some have identified it with the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7), though John distinguishes them. There is also the Virgin‘s Well, called the Gusher, because it periodically bubbles over from a natural spring, a kind of natural siphon. This is south of the temple in the Valley of Kedron and quite possibly the real site. [source]
Comp. Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15. Ὁ πατήρ theFather, is not added in order to explain the Aramaic Abba for Greek readers. Rather the whole phrase Ἁββά ὁ πατήρ had passed into the early Christian prayers, the Aramaic title by which Christ addressed his Father (Mark 14:36) being very early united with the Greek synonym. Such combinations of Hebrew and Greek addresses having the same meaning were employed in rabbinical writings. Comp. also Revelation 9:11; Revelation 12:9. [source]
The allusion may be partly to the pot of manna which was laid up in the ark in the sanctuary. See Exodus 16:32-34; compare Hebrews 9:4. That the imagery of the ark was familiar to John appears from Revelation 11:19. This allusion however is indirect, for the manna laid up in the ark was not for food, but was a memorial of food once enjoyed. Two ideas seem to be combined in the figure: 1. Christ as the bread from heaven, the nourishment of the life of believers, the true manna, of which those who eat shall never die (John 6:31-43, John 6:48-51); hidden, in that He is withdrawn from sight, and the Christian's life is hid with Him in God (Colossians 3:3). 2. The satisfaction of the believer's desire when Christ shall be revealed. The hidden manna shall not remain for ever hidden. We shall see Christ as He is, and be like Him (1 John 3:2). Christ gives the manna in giving Himself “The seeing of Christ as He is, and, through this beatific vision, being made like to Him, is identical with the eating of the hidden manna, which shall, as it were, be then brought forth from the sanctuary, the holy of holies of God's immediate presence where it was withdrawn from sight so long, that all may partake of it; the glory of Christ, now shrouded and concealed, being then revealed to His people” (Trench). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- This is one of numerous illustrations of the dependence of Revelation upon Old Testament history and prophecy. “To such an extent is this the case,” says Professor Milligan, “that it may be doubted whether it contains a single figure not drawn from the Old Testament, or a single complete sentence not more or less built up of materials brought from the same source.” See, for instance, Balaam (Revelation 2:14); Jezebel (Revelation 2:20); Michael (Revelation 12:7, compare Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1); Abaddon (Revelation 9:11); Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, Babylon, the Euphrates, Sodom, Egypt (Revelation 21:2; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 16:19; Revelation 9:14; Revelation 11:8); Gog and Magog (Revelation 20:8, compare Revelation href="/desk/?q=re+2:7&sr=1">Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:27, Revelation 2:28). Heaven is described under the figure of the tabernacle in the wilderness (Revelation 11:1, Revelation 11:19; Revelation 6:9; Revelation 8:3; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 4:6). The song of the redeemed is the song of Moses (Revelation 15:3). The plagues of Egypt appear in the blood, fire, thunder, darkness and locusts (Revelation 8:1-13). “The great earthquake of chapter 6 is taken from Haggai; the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becoming blood (Revelation 8:1-13) from Joel: the stars of heaven falling, the fig-tree casting her untimely figs, the heavens departing as a scroll (Revelation 8:1-13) from Isaiah: the scorpions of chapter 9 from Ezekiel: the gathering of the vine of the earth (chapter 14) from Joel, and the treading of the wine-press in the same chapter from Isaiah.” So too the details of a single vision are gathered out of different prophets or different parts of the same prophet. For instance, the vision of the glorified Redeemer (Revelation 1:12-20). The golden candlesticks are from Exodus and Zechariah; the garment down to the foot from Exodus and Daniel; the golden girdle and the hairs like wool from Isaiah and Daniel; the feet like burnished brass, and the voice like the sound of many waters, from Ezekiel; the two-edged sword from Isaiah and Psalms; the countenance like the sun from Exodus; the falling of the seer as dead from Exodus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the laying of Jesus' right hand on the seer from Daniel. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- “Not indeed that the writer binds himself to the Old Testament in a slavish spirit. He rather uses it with great freedom and independence, extending, intensifying, or transfiguring its descriptions at his pleasure. Yet the main source of his emblems cannot be mistaken. The sacred books of his people had been more than familiar to him. They had penetrated his whole being. They had lived within him as a germinating seed, capable of shooting up not only in the old forms, but in new forms of life and beauty. In the whole extent of sacred and religious literature there is to be found nowhere else such a perfect fusion of the revelation given to Israel with the mind of one who would either express Israel's ideas, or give utterance, by means of the symbols supplied by Israel's history, to the present and most elevated thoughts of the Christian faith “(this note is condensed from Professor Milligan's “Baird Lectures on the Revelation of St. John”).A white stone ( ψῆφον λευκὴν )See on counteth, Luke 14:28; and see on white, Luke 9:29. The foundation of the figure is not to be sought in Gentile but in Jewish customs. “White is everywhere the color and livery of heaven” (Trench). See Revelation 1:14; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 7:9; Revelation 14:14; Revelation 19:8, Revelation 19:11, Revelation 19:14; Revelation 20:11. It is the bright, glistering white. Compare Matthew 28:3; Luke 24:4; John 20:12; Revelation 20:11; Daniel 7:9. It is impossible to fix the meaning of the symbol with any certainty. The following are some of the principal views: The Urim and Thummim concealed within the High-Priest's breastplate of judgment. This is advocated by Trench, who supposes that the Urim was a peculiarly rare stone, possibly the diamond, and engraven with the ineffable name of God. The new name he regards as the new name of God or of Christ (Revelation 3:12); some revelation of the glory of God which can be communicated to His people only in the higher state of being, and which they only can understand who have actually received. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Professor Milligan supposes an allusion to the plate of gold worn on the High-Priest's forehead, and inscribed with the words “Holiness to the Lord,” but, somewhat strangely, runs the figure into the stone or pebble used in voting, and regards the white stone as carrying the idea of the believer's acquittal at the hands of God. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Dean Plumptre sees in the stone the signet by which, in virtue of its form or of the characters inscribed on it, he who possessed it could claim from the friend who gave it, at any distance of time, a frank and hearty welcome; and adds to this an allusion to the custom of presenting such a token, with the guest's name upon it, of admission to the feast given to those who were invited to partake within the temple precincts - a feast which consisted wholly or in part of sacrificial meats. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Others, regarding the connection of the stone with the manna, refer to the use of the lot cast among the priests in order to determine which one should offer the sacrifice. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Others, to the writing of a candidate's name at an election by ballot upon a stone or bean. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In short, the commentators are utterly divided, and the true interpretation remains a matter of conjecture.A new nameSome explain the new name of God or of Christ (compare Revelation 3:12); others, of the recipient's own name. “A new name however, a revelation of his everlasting title as a son of God to glory in Christ, but consisting of and revealed in those personal marks and signs of God's peculiar adoption of himself, which he and none other is acquainted with” (Alford). Bengel says: “Wouldst thou know what kind of a new name thou wilt obtain? Overcome. Before that thou wilt ask in vain, and after that thou wilt soon read it inscribed on the white stone.” [source]
The one in Revelation 9:1. and the one spoken of by the legion of demons in Luke 8:31 under the charge of the angel of the abyss (Apollyon, Revelation 9:11) who is either Satan himself or a kindred power. “Already he has been cast out of Heaven (Revelation 12:9), now he is cast out of the earth, and returns to his own place” (Swete). [source]
Perfect active participle of πιπτω piptō already down. In Luke 10:18 note πεσοντα pesonta (constative aorist active, like a flash of lightning) after ετεωρουν etheōroun and in Revelation 7:2 note αναβαινοντα anabainonta (present active and linear, coming up, picturing the process) after ειδον eidon the pit of the abyss Αβυσσος Abussos is an old adjective (alpha privative and βυτος buthos depth, without depth), but η αβυσσος hē abussos (supply χωρα chōra place), the bottomless place. It occurs in Romans 10:7 for the common receptacle of the dead for Hades (Sheol), but in Luke 8:31 a lower depth is sounded (Swete), for the abode of demons, and in this sense it occurs in Revelation 9:1, Revelation 9:2, Revelation 9:11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:1, Revelation 20:3. Πρεαρ Phrear is an old word for well or cistern (Luke 14:5; John 4:11.) and it occurs in Revelation 9:1. for the mouth of the abyss which is pictured as a cistern with a narrow orifice at the entrance and this fifth angel holds the key to it. [source]