And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
2. as the voice great thunder ] It was as loud and as multitudinous as these, but was harmonious, and apparently articulate.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I heard a voice from heaven – Showing that the scene is laid in heaven, but that John in the vision was on the earth.
As the voice of many waters – As the sound of the ocean, or of a mighty cataract. That is, it was so loud that it could be heard from heaven to earth. No comparison could express this more sublimely than to say that it was like the roar of the ocean.
As the voice of a great thunder – As the loud sound of thunder.
And I heard the voice of harpers – In heaven: the song of redemption accompanied with strains of sweet instrumental music. For a description of the harp, see the notes on Isa 5:12.
Harping with their harps – Playing on their harps. This image gives new beauty to the description. Though the sound was loud and swelling, so loud that it could be heard on the earth, yet it was not mere shouting, or merely a tumultuous cry. It was like the sweetness of symphonious harps. The music of heaven, though elevated and joyous, is sweet and harmonious; and perhaps one of the best representations of heaven on earth, is the effect produced on the soul by strains of sweet and solemn music.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. The voice of many waters] That is, of multitudes of various nations.
The voice of harpers] Though the sounds were many and apparently confused, yet both harmony and melody were preserved.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; a loud voice, and terrible also to the followers of antichrist.
The voice of harpers harping with their harps; a musical, melodious voice, as of persons rejoicing. Mr. Mede rather thinks, that the voice as of many waters, signifies no more than a great multitudes, and indeed it is so expounded, Rev 19:6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. fromGreek, “outof.”
voice of many watersasis the voice of Himself, such also is the voice of His people.
I heard the voice ofharpersA, B, C, and ORIGENread, “the voice which I heard (was) as of harpers.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I heard a voice from heaven,…. The same with the voices heard in heaven upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet,
Re 11:15;
as the voice of many waters; very loud, and uttered by a great multitude of people, signified by waters in this book, Re 17:15; the same with those that praise the Lord for the destruction of antichrist, and for the marriage of the Lamb, Re 19:1;
and as the voice of a great thunder; to which the Gospel may be compared for its open, loud publication, being heard far and near, as thunder is:
and I heard the voice of harpers, harping with their harps; that is, singing the praises of God, for the fall of Babylon, the happy state and condition of the church, and the blessings of grace; the harp being a musical instrument, used under the Old Testament in singing praise: Brightman thinks that these different sounds represent the course of Gospel doctrine, and the church’s voice throughout the reign of antichrist; that when the church first went into the wilderness, her voice was like the murmuring of waters, confused and indistinct; when she began to revive under the Waldenses and Albigenses, Wickliff, Huss, c. her voice was like thunder, loud and terrible and at the Reformation, it was as the voice of harpers, when confessions of faith were published with sweet harmony and consent. Others have thought that the different properties and efficacy of the Gospel are designed; as its rapidity and irresistible force, by the many waters; its striking and shaking the consciences of men, by the thunder, Christ’s ministers being sometimes “Boanergeses”, sons of thunder; and its harmonious music, pleasant sound, peace, joy, and comfort it brings, by the voice of harpers. The Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, “the voice which I heard was as harpers”, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As a voice of many waters ( ). For which see 1:15.
Of a great thunder ( ). For which see Rev 6:1; Rev 19:6. For this voice out of heaven see Rev 10:4; Rev 14:15; Rev 18:4 and note accusative with .
As the voice of harpers harping with their harps ( ). Triple use of (5:8), (18:22), (old verb , in N.T. only here and 1Co 14:7). Wonderful melody in this chorus by the angels, not by the 144,000.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
And I heard the voice of harpers [ ] . The correct reading is, kai hJ fwnh hn hkousa wJv kiqarwdwn and the voice which I heard (was) as (the voice) of harpers. Kiqarwdov is from kiqara a harp (see on ch. Rev 5:8) and wjdov a singer. Properly, one who sings, accompanying himself on the harp.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And I heard a voice from heaven,” (kai ekousa phonen ek tou ouranou) “and I heard a voice – – sound out of (originating from) heaven; though standing yet on the sand of the sea, on earth, John was visualizing, hearing, and observing things to come regarding Israel, the church and the Gentile world, 1Co 10:32; Rev 13:1.
2) “As the voice of many waters,” (hos phonen hudaton pollon) ” as the voice-sound of many rolling waters,” Rev 1:15; The voice seems to be of Divine praise, glorious, and victorious in tone, as in Rev 19:6.
2) “And as the voice of a great thunder,” (kai hos phonen brontes megales) “and as the sounding voice of a great (rolling) thunder,” or rumbling, reverberating thunder, a voice that called attention to a matter of immediate importance, Rev 6:1; as when the Lamb opened the first seal.
4) “And I heard the voice,” (kai he phone hen ekousa) and the voice-sound I heard (from heaven) was; The voice was or existed, sounded similar to that.
5) “Of harpers harping with their harps,” (hos kitharodon kitharizonton) “as harping continually, harping or playing in harmony,” (en tais kitharis auton) with their harps,” with harps that belong to them, Rev 5:8. This certifies Divine sanction of the sound of instrumental music in connection with man’s praise and adoration of the Father and the son; for the “players on instruments shall be there,” when the Lord “writeth up” the people, Psa 87:5-7; These harps are also called “harps of God”, Rev 15:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(2) And I heard a voice . . .Translate, And I heard a voice out of the heaven. The saints stand with their Lord, the Lamb, on Mount Zion, and just as of old a voice came from heaven bearing witness to Christ, so round the abode of the saints heavenly voices are heard, full of majesty, terribleness, and sweetness, as though the sounds of sea and thunder blended with the music of heavenly harps. We call to mind the magnificent 29th Psalm; there the saints, secure in Zion, hear all around them the voice of God in the thunder and in the sea, while in His safe sanctuary the saints can sing of His honour.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Heard a voice from heaven From the ethereal or firmamental heaven, over the company on the mount, there comes a choral voice. The blessed air is full of heavenly music. It is from a very full celestial choir, for their voice is as the voice of many waters, as a great thunder.
And I heard Better reading, And the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers, etc. There was but one aerial company, at first heard but not seen, whose voice was sweet as harp melody, yet full as the waters’ roar, and loud as a great thunder.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And I heard a voice (sound) from heaven like the voice (sound) of many waters and like the voice (sound) of a great thunder, and the voice (sound) which I heard was like the voice (sound) of harpists harping with their harps, and they sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty four thousand, those who had been purchased out of the earth.’
The voice like the voice of many waters was the voice of the Son of Man in Rev 1:15, the voice like a great thunder was the voice of the living creature in Rev 6:1, the harpists harping with their harps are the twenty four elders in Rev 5:8. Later also the voice as the sound of many waters and the voice of mighty thunders is the voice of a great heavenly multitude (Rev 19:6) who celebrate the marriage of the Lamb and His bride. Thus the mighty ones of Heaven unite in their welcome of these redeemed people. This forms the swelling background to the song of the one hundred and forty four thousand.
‘And they sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders.’ This is the song of the redeemed celebrating the name which no one could know except those who received it (Rev 2:17). They sing ‘as it were a new song’ because they have now been raptured or resurrected and stand in their new spiritual bodies before God. It is the new song of Rev 5:9 and yet it is freshly new for it is now sung by those who have actually experienced redemption. They glory in what has been done for them by Him who purchased them out of the earth.
Alternately it may be a song sung by the heavenly multitudes to welcome them into Heaven, then ‘no man could learn the song’ refers to the fact that it is for the redeemed and the redeemed alone. They alone are recipients of the welcome.
‘No one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty four thousand’. ‘No one’ must refer to those who dwell on earth for it is sung before the living creatures and the elders so that they learn the song. Alternately it may signify that no one else can really know the song fully because they have not experienced it in full. Indeed both ideas may be in mind. What a wonderful song of triumph it must be. Their sufferings and trials are behind them and they are now to share Heaven with their Lord and Saviour Who has prepared a place for them (Joh 14:2) and to receive their rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom 14:10; 1Co 3:12-15; 1Co 4:5; 2Co 5:10). But they are not thinking of this but of their Saviour and Redeemer Who bought them with His own blood.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 14:2-3 . . Cf. Rev 10:4 ; Rev 10:8 . Many of the expositors who have transferred Mount Zion, Rev 14:1 , to heaven, have [3437] ascribed the voice from heaven to the one hundred and forty-four thousand themselves. Ew. ii., as in Rev 12:10 sqq., Rev 19:1 sqq., understands the voices as those of the martyrs, Rev 7:9 sqq.
. . Cf. Rev 1:15 .
. . Cf. Rev 6:1 . The strength of the heavenly voice does not prevent its sounding at the same time charmingly, like the melody of players on the harp: , . . . [3438] The , which designates the instrument, is here still easier than in Rev 6:8 .
. Cf. Rev 5:9 . The conception has nothing to do with the , [3439] Rev 14:4 ; for the one hundred and forty-four thousand do not sing this song. In this passage, also, the relation of the , as to how this song is to be called because of its contents, is to be understood from the connection. The general reference to the work of redemption is not sufficient; [3440] but the subject has reference to that which is displayed to the gazing prophet, through the vision presented to him, and therefore to the faithfulness of God and the Lamb, whereby believers, upon the ground of the redemption accomplished by Christ, are preserved amid all the enticements or persecutions, on the part of the antichristian secular power, and brought to victory and eternal glory. [3441]
, . . . There the song, according to its most inner relation, belongs, because it describes the blessed goal of God’s ways, whose attainment was of itself pledged by the significant glory of the heavenly scene, ch. 4, upon which the entire arrangement of God’s ways rests.
. ., . . . The one hundred and forty-four thousand, however, could learn this new song, i.e., not merely understand, [3442] but also appropriate it so as to afterwards sing it, [3443] because they alone have the experience of that which is celebrated in the song. [3444]
. On the thought, cf. 4, Rev 5:9 . The construction of the masc., with , is according to the sense, as Rev 5:13 .
[3437] As C. a Lap., Vitr., Beng., Hengstenb.
[3438] Cf. Rev 5:8 .
[3439] Against Beng.: “A new song suits well these first fruits.”
[3440] De Wette.
[3441] Cf. Hengstenb.
[3442] Grot., who besides evades: “No one could understand the cause of such joy.”
[3443] Ew., De Wette.
[3444] Cf. Rev 2:17 , also Rev 19:12 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Ver. 2. As the voice of many waters ] The word of God (called here a voice from heaven) hath, saith Mr Forbes, three degrees of operation in the hearts of men. 1. It works wondering (as the sound of many waters) and acknowledging of a strange force and more than human power,Mar 12:22Mar 12:22 ; Luk 4:32 ; Joh 7:46 ; Joh 2:1-25 . It works not only wonder but fear, as thunder doth; thus it wrought in Felix, and may do in any reprobate. 3. It works in the elect peace and joy; it makes music in the soul, far sweeter than that of harpers,1Pe 1:81Pe 1:8 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
many waters. See Rev 1:16; Rev 19:6.
a. Omit.
I heard, &c. The texts read “the voice which I heard (was that) of harpers”, &c.
harpers, &c. Accompanying the voice.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 14:2. [153]) Thus Comp. Copt. and almost all the copies. But the reading of Erasmus, , without (which particle is however found even in And. 1), is scarcely supported by one or two ancient authorities. I wish the reader to observe my Edition, connected by Wolf more distinctly than by the printer with the Complutensian, and not with the Grco-Anglican. John by degrees more articulately describes the voice which he heard; and the article has the force of a relative, by which the meaning is conveyed, that the same voice was heard first as of many waters and of great thundering, and next as of harpers.[154]
[153] So ABCh Orig.; but Rec. Text, . Vulg. vocem quam audivi.-E.
[154] 4. – , to God-the Lamb) Hence they sing a hymn before the throne of the Former, and they think it an honour to afford themselves as followers of the Latter.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
a voice: Rev 10:4, Rev 11:12, Rev 11:15, Rev 19:1-7
of many: Rev 1:15, Rev 19:6, Psa 93:4, Isa 17:13, Eze 43:2
of a: Rev 1:10, Rev 8:7-13, Rev 9:1, Rev 10:3, Rev 10:4, Rev 11:15, Exo 19:16, Exo 20:18, Zec 9:14
harpers: Rev 5:8, Rev 15:2, Rev 18:22, 2Sa 6:5, 1Ch 25:1-7, Psa 33:2, Psa 43:4, Psa 57:8, Psa 92:3, Psa 98:5, Psa 147:7, Psa 149:3, Psa 150:3-6
Reciprocal: 1Ki 10:12 – harps 2Ch 20:28 – with psalteries Psa 68:25 – the players Mat 3:17 – lo Joh 3:23 – much Joh 12:29 – thundered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 14:2. Voice of many waters symbolizes that great numbers had resisted the temptations of Rome, and thunder is a symbol denoting that the sound of triumph is strong and of great volume. Voice of harpers means the organs of song in the bodies of the redeemed, for the next verse says they were singing with the harps.
Rev 14:3. The saints of God always have the same story to tell and the same song to sing, and that is about redemption through the blood of the Lamb. But that story has a new significance whenever the faithful have another victory over the forces of evil through faith in Christ Jesus, and in that sense it becomes a new song. At the present time they had gained a victory over the apostate institution and hence they had great reason to rejoice and sing. The four beasts (living creatures) and the four and twenty elders are among the grateful listeners to the song. The hundred and forty and four thousand are the same ones we read about in chapter 7. No man could learn that song. Men of the world can sing any kind of song that is written as far as the literal execution of it is concerned, but they cannot realize what it means to express themselves in song as can those who have been redeemed from sin in the blood of the Lamb, and then again experienced the joy of winning out in a battle against the hosts of wickedness as these had. The corrupt institution of Rome had tried to overcome them by its abominable allurements but had failed.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verses 2-3.
2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps–Rev 14:2-3.
The voice from heaven was in unison, and symbolized the same triumphant chorus of victory over the forces of the dragon, as in chapters eleven and twelve. The voice which John heard was as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and as the voice of harpers with their harps.
It has been asserted that the reference to harps and harpers here justifies the employment of mechanical musical instrumentation in the worship of the church. But a symbol never symbolizes itself, and a type cannot typify itself. Moreover, the scene is that of the spirits of the redeemed from the earth–and heaven is the home of the soul. What use could a redeemed spirit make of a material instrument? It is worse than folly–it is crass stupidity–to make a such literal application of figurative language.
The description is a comparison, indicated by the conjunctive adverb as. The voice of unison in the vision was heard singing this new song of triumph before the throne of the Lamb. In the perfection of rhythm it was us the flowing of many waters; in the mighty volume it was as the peal of great thunders; in the sweetness of melody, it was as if it were attuned to the strings of an hundred and forty-four thousand harps. The Greek text has the same adverb as with the harpers as with the waters and thunders –as harpers harping with their harps. It was the song of the myriad thousand, which no man could learn–which only the redeemed chorus could sing; it was not a song of worship on earth, but a refrain of triumph known only to the select company of martyrs and which belonged only to the throng before the throne. It was beyond all human imagination or contemplation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 14:2. A voice is heard out of heaven. The description of it shows that it is a voice of mingled terror and sweetness.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
St. John here describes the true worshippers of Christ in the midst of antichristian idolatry; where we have,
1. The acceptable worship they perform, prayer and praise, an heavenly exercise, which, like thunder, and the voice of many waters, sounds loud in the ears of God, and is certainly heard by him, and is melodious like the harp, and therefore as acceptable to him as the sweetest music is to us.
2. The persons described who perform this acceptable worship, such as were redeemed from the earth; where the earth is put for earthly-minded men, the false church; the meaning is, that God has fetched this small number of true worshippers, the hundred forty-four thousand, from among the false worshippers and impure ones, he hath rescued them from the world of idolaters, and from the superstitious multitude.
3. The persons described before whom this worship is performed, Before the throne, and before the four beasts and elders,– before the throne, to show the reverence and sincerity wherewith they performed the same, as in the sight of the great and glorious God, and before the beasts and elders, that is, the whole congregation of the saints, according to that of the Psalmist, Psa 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The speaker, or speakers, is not identified but the voice comes from heaven with an awesome sound like a large body of flowing waters and great thunder. It also had a sweet melody like harpers playing their harps. The word “they” here apparently refers to those who make up the voice in heaven. They are singing a new song which cannot be learned by men, save for the 144,000 redeemed. Perhaps the song is of redemption and its joys and benefits which could only be known by the redeemed.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
John did not identify the person who spoke from heaven. This could be the voice of Christ (cf. Rev 1:15; Eze 1:24; Eze 43:2), the Tribulation martyrs (Rev 7:10), an angel (cf. Rev 6:1; Dan 10:6), or many angels (Rev 5:8; Rev 5:11; Rev 7:11; Rev 19:6). Perhaps the last option is best in view of how John described it here and in the next verse (pl. "they sang"). These angels do not include the four living creatures and the 24 elders, however (Rev 14:3).