I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Parallel Translations
-
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
-
I am Alpha and Omega the begynninge and the ende: the fyrst and the last.
-
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Revelation 22:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
- Revelation 21:6 He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
- Isaiah 44:6 This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
- Isaiah 48:12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he. I am the first. I am also the last.
- Isaiah 41:4 Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”
- Revelation 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
- Revelation 1:11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and…
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Ver. 13. I am Alpha and Omega] And am therefore worthy to be believed in my predictions of future events, which I can easily bring about and effect, since to me all things are present.
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 See Poole on "Rev 1:8". See Poole on "Rev…
See Poole on "Rev 1:8". See Poole on "Rev 21:6".
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain As if Christ had said, "I am the eternal…
As if Christ had said, "I am the eternal God, the first cause and the last end of all things; I first made the world, and I will at last put a period to it; and when time shall be no more, they shall for ever be happy in the enjoyment of me, who have here obeyed me, and lived in conformity to my doctrine and example; they shall through holiness enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, that glorious city, having the tree of life in it; present blessedness, as well as future happiness, belongs to those that obey God’s will, and keep his commandments; blessed are they, and blessed for ever shall they be."
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I am Alpha and Omega,.... See Gill on Rev…
I am Alpha and Omega,.... See Gill on Rev 1:8. These characters are all put together here, which are before used in Rev 1:8 and are very pertinently mentioned in this place, when all promises and prophecies, relating to the glorious kingdom of Christ, were just finishing, and that itself was ready to appear, in which Christ alone should be exalted, the mystery of God would be completed, and time itself be no more. The Ethiopic version adds, "the beginning and end of days", or time. A testimony this, of the deity, eternity, infinity, and perfection of Christ.
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 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first…
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last - Who exist from everlasting to everlasting. How clear, incontestable a proof, does our Lord here give of his divine glory!
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. I am Alpha and Omega] See Clarke…
Verse 13. I am Alpha and Omega] See Clarke on Re 1:8; "Re 1:18".
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I am Alpha and Omega ... - See the…
I am Alpha and Omega ... - See the notes on Rev 1:8, Rev 1:11. The idea here is, that he will thus show that he is the first and the last - the beginning and the end. He originated the whole plan of salvation, and he will determine its close; he formed the world, and he will wind up its affairs. In the beginning, the continuance, and the end, he will be recognized as the same being presiding over and controlling all.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain I am alpha and omega. See Chap. i. 8.…
I am alpha and omega. See Chap. i. 8. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain I am Alpha--Greek, ". . . the Alpha and…
I am Alpha--Greek, ". . . the Alpha and the Omega." A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, ORIGEN, and CYPRIAN transpose thus, "the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." ANDREAS supports English Version. Compare with these divine titles assumed here by the Lord Jesus, Rev 1:8, Rev 1:17; Rev 21:6. At the winding up of the whole scheme of revelation He announces Himself as the One before whom and after whom there is no God.
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 13. I am Alpha—Assuredly words spoken by no angel.
13. I am Alpha—Assuredly words spoken by no angel.
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 13. I am Alpha &c.] Son_1:8 (not 11). There…
13. I am Alpha &c.] Son_1:8 (not 11). There the Father speaks, here the Son.
the beginning &c.] The true order seems to be the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) I am Alpha . . .—Here (as in…
(13) I am Alpha . . .—Here (as in Rev_21:6) we should render, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (See Note as above, and comp. Joh_1:1; Isa_44:6.) The repetition of these glorious titles is not a mere idle repetition, or designed to give a rhetorical fulness to the peroration of the book: it is closely allied with the preceding thought. The warning has been given that men by continuing in sin (Rev_22:11) are inviting against themselves the law by which act ripens to habit, and habit makes character, and character forms destiny. The moral laws set going by sin work thus:—Retribution is no dream: it is a terrible fact: it is written large over nature. But the eternal laws of God, though righteously ordered, are not God: the refuge from the eternal laws which we invoke against ourselves by our sin is to be found in the Eternal God: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” For those hunted by the wickedness of their own doings, God himself provides a refuge: underneath all laws are the everlasting arms (Deu_33:27). The next verses set the way of refuge and safety before us.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the…
I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last; the Alpha, etc. Reverse the position of the two last phrases. These words, which appropriately open and close the book, (cf. Rev_1:8) occur (like those in ver. 11 above) continually in Isaiah. (see Isa_41:4 Isa_43:10 Isa_44:6 Isa_48:12) All three titles are here combined, as if to finally gather up into one impressive assertion the titles hitherto used separately. (cf. Rev_1:8, 17 2:8 21:6) "The first title is symbolical; the second is borrowed from the Old Testament; the third is philosophical" ("Speaker"s Commentary"). (See homily on Rev_1:8)
"The First and the Last.
Read full note →
So is Christ. The text is one of those clear, strong statements which compel the mind of him who accepts the authority of Scripture to assign to the Lord Jesus Christ that position of Divine dignity and rank which the Church has ever ascribed to him. He is the First and the Last. Like as some vast mountain, towering aloft into the clouds, is the first object that catches the eye of the voyager on board a ship approaching the land, and, when again she sails, is the last that lingers in his view; so the Lord Jesus Christ, when we approach the study of God"s revelations of himself, is the first Object that arrests our view, as he will be the last when we look back from the ocean of eternity. And as in our illustration, so in him to whom we have ventured to apply the illustration. Not only first and last, but in all the interval between. As the mountain dominates the whole landscape, and is seen from all points, go where we will, so the Lord Jesus Christ occupies and fills up the chief place in our study, no matter from what side we contemplate the ways and works of God. We behold "him first, him midst, him last, him without end." So is it
I IN THE UNIVERSE OF GOD. For:
1. He is first in time. In the beginning was the Word." Ere ever aught was he was.
2. In position and rank. None so great as he. Let all the angels of God worship him.
3. As being the Object of all. Creation is to show forth his glory. Man, to subserve his will. Events, to further his purpose.
4. And he is the Last also. Omega as well as Alpha. When man and the universe, as we now know them, shall have passed away, "his years shall have no end." "They shall perish, but thou remainest.
II IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. In their opening statement we read, "In the beginning Elohim created," etc. the plural form suggesting; if it does not declare, the then existence of the Son of God. He is "the Seed of the woman," the promise of whom lights up the first prophecy. The first sacrifice, the first death, speak of him. And from these earliest teachings concerning him right down to the last utterance of the Word of God, in what book, chapter, or page is he absent? Patriarchs saw his day; types told of him; laws led to him; psalmists sung of him; prophets prophesied of him; princes and rulers, and the events which the sacred history records, prepared the way for him; and the New Testament is all of him. He it is who gives unity to the Scriptures, which otherwise would be a mere collection of ancient writings, having no point, or aim, or plan. He is the Keystone of the arch, without which it would have neither symmetry nor strength.
III IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER. He is "the Author and Perfecter of our faith." He begins the work, having made it possible by his death, his resurrection, and the gift of his Spirit. "All things" thus being "ready," he gives regenerating grace, whereby we are grafted into him as our second Adam; then converting grace, leading us to believe; then sanctifying grace; and, finally, grace for the hour of death, grace to meeten us for the Divine presence; and at last glorifying grace. Think, then, all these things being so, what:
1. Must he not be in himself?
2. Ought he not to be to us?
3. Will he be to us if "we will not have him to reign over us"? S.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 13–16. I am Alpha and Omega. See notes on…
13–16. I am Alpha and Omega. See notes on 1:8. The three titles given here have a similar signification.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.