These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
Parallel Translations
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These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
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These have power to shut heven that it rayne not in the dayes of their prophesyinge: and have power over waters to turne them to bloud and to smyte the erth with almaner plages as often as they will.
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These haue power to shut heauen, that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying, and haue power ouer waters to turne them into blood, and to smite the earth with all maner plagues, as often as they will.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Revelation 11:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Kings 17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
- Luke 4:25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.
- Exodus 7:17-25 Yahweh says, “In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold: I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. The fish that are in the river will die and the river will become foul. The Egyptians will loathe to drink water from the river.” ’ ” Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ” Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died. The river became foul. The Egyptians couldn’t drink water from the river. The blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart. All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn’t drink the river water. Seven days were fulfilled, after Yahweh had struck the river.
- Psalms 105:26-36 He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words. He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. He spoke, and swarms of flies came, and lice in all their borders. He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land. He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. He spoke, and the locusts came with the grasshoppers, without number, ate up every plant in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood.
- 1 Samuel 4:8 Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
- James 5:16-18 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months. He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
- Ezekiel 7:1-12 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “You, son of man, the Lord Yahweh says to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land. Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’ “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘An evil! A unique evil! Behold, it comes. An end has come. The end has come! It awakes against you. Behold, it comes. Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land! The time has come! The day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains. Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, strike. “ ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded. Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them. The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it…
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Ver. 6. That it rain not] That the influence of divine grace be withheld from those that despise the gospel; so that they become as those mountains of Gilboa, 2Sa 1:21, or that accursed earth, Heb 6:8.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain It is plain that here is an allusion to…
It is plain that here is an allusion to Elijah, who prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months, Jam 5:17; see the story, 1Ki 17:1; and to Moses, who turned the waters into blood in Egypt; and after was an instrument to smite the land of Egypt with plagues. But what power analogous to this the ministers of the gospel have had, or have, is not easy to determine. It is certain, the apostles had a miraculous power, but they rarely used it, but in doing good to men; Ananias and Sapphira indeed were struck dead upon their word, Act 5:1-11; and Elymas the sorcerer was struck blind by them; but this power is long since ceased. Mr. Mede understands this power of the keys of doctrine and church censures the ministers of the gospel should be intrusted with; so as they should not preach the gospel unto such as contemned their ministry; by the withholding of which means of grace, also, they would be deprived of the dew of heavenly grace. And, indeed, this seemeth more proper than to understand it of the keys of discipline; for what power of this nature have ministers over those who are without? I take a general explication to be the best. If any hurt them, God shall revenge their cause, not only by spiritual, but by temporal judgments, bringing all manner of evils upon their adversaries. They are said to have power to do it, because God will do it in the revenge of the injuries done unto them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain These have power to shut heaven,.... For these have…
These have power to shut heaven,.... For these have the keys of the kingdom of heaven given them, and whatever they bind or loose on earth is bound or loosed in heaven; or in other words, having the true key of knowledge in matters, both of doctrine and discipline, given them, whatever they declare, according to the word of God, to be doctrines fit to be received or rejected, and to be the ordinances of God, and matters of worship to be attended to, and what are not, should be so: and in particular,
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; that is, on their enemies, the antichristian party; for otherwise it must rain on those to whom they minister, their prophecy itself being rain in a spiritual sense: so rain is explained of prophecy in the Targum on Isa 5:6, which paraphrases the words thus;
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"I will command the prophets that they do not prophesy upon them prophecy:''
for this is to be understood not literally, since the days of their prophecy, or preaching in sackcloth, are 1260, that is, 1260 years, and which is the term and duration of antichrist's reign: wherefore, if this was the case, there must be a famine and great distress, during this long space of time; but as this is not matter of fact, so it would not comport with that plenty, luxury, and deliciousness, in which the whore of Babylon is said to live: but the words are to be taken in a spiritual sense, and to be understood of the Gospel, and doctrines of it, or the word of God, which is sometimes compared to rain, Deu 32:2. God is the author and giver of rain, and he only; none of the vanities, or idols of the Gentiles, can give it; has the rain a father? it has, but not on earth, only God who is in heaven; and so the Gospel is of God, and it is he only that can make men able ministers of it; the rain comes down from above, from heaven, and of the same original and descent is the Gospel, it is the voice speaking from heaven; the rain falls, according to divine direction, in one place, and not another, on one city, and not another; and so the Gospel is sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another; it is forbid here, and ordered there. Showers of rain moisten and soften the earth, and make it susceptive of seed; and the Gospel is the means of softening hard hearts, and of making them capable of receiving suitable impressions: rain refreshes the earth, revives the plants and trees, and makes them fruitful; and so the Gospel, attended with a divine blessing, refreshes drooping saints, revives the work of God in them, and is the means of filling them with all the fruits of righteousness. Now the withholding of this rain denotes a famine, not of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord; and as it is a judgment on a nation, or on a city, not to be rained upon, so it is a spiritual judgment upon a people, when God commands his clouds, his ministers, to rain no rain of the Gospel on them; and it is one of the judgments upon the antichristian party, that they have not the Gospel preached unto them, nor any dew of powerful and efficacious grace distilled on them, but are left to their blindness, darkness, and hardness of heart: and these witnesses carrying the Gospel along with them, where they prophesy and preach, is called a shutting up heaven, so that it rain not on the followers of antichrist, from whom they separate themselves, or by whom they are cast out; and this is ascribed to them, and is owing to their removal or ejection; much in the same sense as the night and darkness are to the sun's remove; that is, these follow upon it. The allusion is to the withholding of rain in the times of Elijah, one of the types of these witnesses, because of the idolatries of Ahab and Jezebel, Kg1 17:1. In like manner is the rain of the Gospel withheld during the reign of antichrist, because of the idolatry and superstition of the apostasy.
And have power over waters to turn them to blood; by "waters" are meant people, multitudes, nations, and tongues, and particularly those over whom antichrist reigns, Rev 17:15, and turning of them into blood designs the confusions and wars raised among them on account of the prophesying of these witnesses, and the persecutions and bloodshed which followed upon it; which eventually are the end and issue of preaching the Gospel; see Mat 10:34. The allusion is to one of the plagues of Egypt, and to Moses and Aaron, who were types of these witnesses turning the waters of Egypt into blood, Exo 7:20; and answers to the second and third vials, Rev 16:3.
And to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will; alluding to the plagues of Egypt, one of the names of Rome, or the Roman jurisdiction, in Rev 11:8, and which is meant by the earth here; and referring to the rest of the seven vials poured out by these witnesses, signified by seven angels; and their having power so to do as often as they will, is to be understood of these plagues being inflicted on the inhabitants of the earth, or followers of antichrist, in answer to their prophecies and prayers, which are made according to the will of God, and so always have their effect, being such.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain These have power - And they use that power.…
These have power - And they use that power. See verse 10. To shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophesying - During those "twelve hundred and sixty days." And have power over the waters - In and near Jerusalem. To turn them into blood - As Moses did those in Egypt. And to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will - This is not said of Moses or Elijah, or any mere man besides. And how is it possible to understand this otherwise than of two individual persons?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. These have power to shut heaven] As…
Verse 6. These have power to shut heaven] As Elijah did, 1Kgs 17:1-18:46.
To turn them to blood] As Moses did, Ex 7:19-25. They shall have power to afflict the land with plagues, similar to those which were inflicted on the Egyptians.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain These have power to shut heaven - That is,…
These have power to shut heaven - That is, so far as rain is concerned - for this is immediately specified. There is probably a reference here to an ancient opinion that the rain was kept in the clouds of heaven as in reservoirs or bottles, and that when they were opened it rained; when they were closed it ceased to rain. So Job, “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them,” Job 26:8. “Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly,” Job 36:28. “Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven?” Job 38:37; compare Gen 1:7; Gen 7:12; Gen 8:2; 2Ki 7:2. To shut or close up the heavens, therefore, is to restrain the rain from descending, or to produce a drought. Compare notes on Jam 5:17.
That it rain not in the days of their prophecy - In the time when they prophesy. Probably the allusion here is to what is said of Elijah, 1Ki 17:1. This would properly refer to some miraculous power; but still it may be used to denote merely that they would be clothed with the power of causing blessings to be withheld from people, as if rain were withheld; that is, that in consequence of the calamities that would be brought upon them, and the persecutions which they would endure, God would bring judgments upon people as if they were clothed with this power. The language, therefore, it seems to me, does not necessarily imply that they would have the power of working miracles.
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And have power over waters to turn them to blood - The allusion here is doubtless to what occurred in Egypt, Exo 7:17. Compare the notes on Rev 8:8. This, too, would literally denote the power of working a miracle; but still it is not absolutely necessary to suppose that this is intended. Anything that would be represented by turning waters into blood, would correspond with all that is necessarily implied in the language. If any great calamity should occur in consequence of what was done to them that would be properly represented by turning the waters into blood so that they could not be used, and that was so connected with the treatment which they received as to appear to be a judgment of heaven on that account, or that would appear to have come upon the world in consequence of their imprecations, it would be all that is necessarily implied in this language.
And to smite the earth with all plagues - All kinds of plague or calamity; disease, pestilence, famine, flood, etc. The word “plague” - πληγῇ plēgē - which means, properly, “stroke, stripe, blow,” would include any or all of these. The meaning here is, that great calamities would follow the manner in which they were treated, as if the power were lodged in their hands.
As often as they will - So that it would seem that they could exercise this power as they pleased.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain These . . . power--Greek, "authorized power."
These . . . power--Greek, "authorized power."
it rain not--Greek, "huetos brechee," "rain shower not," literally, "moisten" not (the earth).
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smite . . . with all plagues--Greek, "with (literally, 'in') every plague."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. As the individual judgment upon rejection of the…
6. As the individual judgment upon rejection of the gospel prophecy is given in Rev_11:5, so now we have the public judgments. The firmament of God’s goodness becomes brass, and the genial showers of mercy descend not.
Waters… blood—Nay, the very mercies of God, designed for our life and happiness, are transformed, by the divine judgments, to the very image and essence of curse. The very gospel, the water of life, proves to be the stream of death.
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As often as they will—Which will, since they are but the embodiments of divine truth, is simply the expression of God’s law. This absoluteness of their power of inflicting judgments is the absoluteness of the divine justice, not of their personal caprice. And all their power of infliction is simply the power of annunciation, sure to be fulfilled by the divine power. It was thus that Elijah burned up the fifties; and thus that Peter struck Ananias dead. It is thus that the Christian prophet, in the true performance of his duties, slays men and nations. His word kills, because God within the word kills, according to the word. What kills all men is just this word, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. power to shut heaven] Like Elijah: over waters,…
6. power to shut heaven] Like Elijah: over waters, &c. like Moses.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain These have power to shut heaven, that it rain…
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will; the power... the heaven... the waters... every plague (Revised Version). The whole verse is descriptive of the powers entrusted to Moses and Elijah, and is intended to convey the idea that the power which supported them would likewise support the two witnesses. It is doubtful whether the meaning should be pressed further than this. If we do so, it may, perhaps, be said that (in the words of Wordsworth) "if any one despises God"s witnesses, they have the power, like Elias, to shut heaven, and exclude all who reject them. The dews of Divine grace are withheld from all who scorn them." It is thus a fulfilment of our Lord"s words, "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath". (Mat_13:12) And again, besides the punishments which are finally to fall on the ungodly, it is the case that the rejection of God"s will is followed on this earth by troubles which would be avoided were men to listen to the witness borne of him.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 to close up the sky so that no rain…
to close up the sky so that no rain will fall
John speaks of the sky as if it had a door that can be opened to let rain fall or closed to stop the rain. AT: "to keep rain from falling from the sky" (See: Metaphor)
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to turn
"to change"
to strike the earth with every kind of plague
John speaks of the plagues as if they were a stick that someone could hit the earth with. AT: "to cause all kinds of trouble to occur on earth" (See: Metaphor)
bottomless pit
This is an extremely deep narrow hole. Possible meanings are 1) the pit has no bottom; it continues to go down further forever or 2) the pit is so deep that it is as if it had no bottom. See how you translated this in Revelation 9:1.
translationWords
testimony
authority
heaven
prophet
power
turn
water
blood
earth
kind
plague
testimony
beast
pit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 11:6 These two witnesses were given power to stop…
11:6 These two witnesses were given power to stop the rain and bring down plagues, as were Elijah (see 1 Kgs 17:1; 18:41-46) and Moses (see Exod 7:14-24; 8:1–11:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.