They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Parallel Translations
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They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
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and they cryed with a lowde voyce sayinge: How loge tariest thou lorde holy and true to iudge and to avenge oure bloud on them that dwell on the erth?
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And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, Lord, which art holie and true! doest not thou iudge and auenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Revelation 6:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 19:2 for his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.”
- Psalms 9:12 For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
- Revelation 11:18 The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
- Luke 18:7-8 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
- Romans 12:19 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- Revelation 16:5-7 I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you have judged these things. For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.” I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”
- Luke 21:22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
- Revelation 3:7 “To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
- Zechariah 1:12 Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”
- Revelation 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
- Deuteronomy 32:36-43 For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large. He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge; which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection. “See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever, if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.” Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.
- Revelation 15:3-4 They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. Who wouldn’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- Genesis 4:10 Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
- 1 Samuel 24:12 May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you.
- Psalms 58:10-11 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
- Psalms 79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.
- Isaiah 63:1-6 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who is this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your clothing red, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? “I have trodden the wine press alone. Of the peoples, no one was with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”
- Revelation 18:24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
- Judges 16:28 Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
- Psalms 74:9-10 We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long. How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
- Hebrews 12:24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
- Revelation 3:10 Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
- Psalms 13:1 How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Psalms 35:17 Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.
- Psalms 94:3-4 Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.
- Isaiah 61:2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
- Daniel 12:6 One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?”
- Daniel 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, “How long will the vision about the continual burnt offering, and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot be?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying,…
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Ver. 10. And they cried] When God intends deliverance to his people, he poureth out upon them "the spirit of grace and supplication," Zec 12:9-10.
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How long, O Lord] Calvin had this speech always in his mouth, breathing out his holy desires in the behalf of the afflicted Churches, with whose sufferings he was more affected than with anything that befell himself. (Beza in Vita.)
Dost thou not judge and avenge] The glorified souls cannot be properly said to desire revenge; but the cry which they make must be understood to be the provocation of God to vengeance which their sufferings produce in the same sort as Abel’s blood is said to cry. (Thorndike.)
That dwell on the earth] In opposition to the inhabitants of heaven. As names written in heaven stand opposed to those that are written in the earth, Luk 10:20; Jer 17:13.
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 And they cried with a loud voice; their blood…
And they cried with a loud voice; their blood cried, or their souls cried to God,
saying, How long, O Lord, holy; and therefore thou canst not abide iniquity, and of all iniquity canst least abide innocent blood, which is the blood of thy saints, whose blood is precious in thy sight.
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And true; and who art true to thy word of threatenings against blood thirsty men, and to thy promises for the deliverance of thy people.
Dost thou net judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Dost thou not judge our cause, and avenge us, who have committed vengeance to thee, not daring to avenge ourselves upon wicked men, who dwelling upon the earth are seen, and their practices known to and by thee, and are under thy power, so as thou canst at pleasure do it.
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 And they cried with a loud voice,.... With great…
And they cried with a loud voice,.... With great ardour and fervency, being very pressing and importunate; and which shows that they were awake, and not asleep, and that the soul does not sleep with the body in the grave, or is after the death of that in a state of insensibility and inactivity, as some imagine:
saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true; the person they address is either the Lamb in the midst of the throne, with whom they were, and under the shelter of whom they were safe and happy; or God the Father, who sat upon the throne, whom they call "holy", because being so in his nature, and as appears in all his works, he could not but hate, and so revenge the evil that was done to them by their cruel persecutors; and whereas he is "true" to all his threatenings, as well as his promises, and faithful to every word of his, they doubted not but he would judge and avenge them of their enemies; but they seem desirous to know how long it would be first: saying,
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dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? the men of the world, idolatrous persons, earthly princes, who had shed their blood; and which they desire not out of any sinful or malicious affection, but that the holiness and justice of God might appear, and also his truth and faithfulness in his promises to them, and threatenings to his enemies; and that God in all things might be glorified, and his church and people on earth might be supported and delivered; see Job 24:12.
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 And they cried - This cry did not begin…
And they cried - This cry did not begin now, but under the first Roman persecution. The Roman themselves had already avenged the martyrs slain by the Jews on that whole nation. How long - They knew their blood would be avenged; but not immediately, as is now shown them. O Lord - The Greek word properly signifies the master of a family: it is therefore beautifully used by these, who are peculiarly of the household of God. Thou Holy One and true - Both the holiness and truth of God require him to execute judgment and vengeance. Dost thou not judge and avenge our blood? - There is no impure affection in heaven: therefore, this desire of theirs is pure and suitable to the will of God. The martyrs are concerned for the praise of their Master, of his holiness and truth: and the praise is given him, chap. xix, 2, where the prayer of the martyrs is changed into a thanksgiving:- Thou holy One and true: "True and right are thy judgments." How long dost thou not judge "He hath judged the great whore, and avenge our blood? and hath avenged the blood of his servants."
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. And they cried with a loud voice]…
Verse 10. And they cried with a loud voice] That is, their blood, like that of Abel, cried for vengeance; for we are not to suppose that there was any thing like a vindictive spirit in those happy and holy souls who had shed their blood for the testimony of Jesus. We sometimes say Blood cries for blood; that is, in the order of Divine justice, every murderer, and every murdering persecutor, shall be punished.
O Lord] ο δεσποτης Sovereign Lord, supreme Ruler; one having and exercising unlimited and uncontrolled authority.
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Holy] In thy own nature, hating iniquity;
And true] In all thy promises and threatenings;
Dost thou not judge] The persecutors;
And avenge our blood] Inflict signal punishment;
On them that dwell on the earth?] Probably meaning the persecuting Jews; they dwelt επιτηςγης, upon that land, a form of speech by which Judea is often signified in the New Testament.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain How long--Greek, "Until when?" As in the parable the…
How long--Greek, "Until when?" As in the parable the woman (symbol of the Church) cries day and night to the unjust judge for justice against her adversary who is always oppressing her (compare below, Rev 12:10); so the elect (not only on earth, but under Christ's covering, and in His presence in Paradise) cry day and night to God, who will assuredly, in His own time, avenge His and their cause, "though He bear long with them." These passages need not be restricted to some particular martyrdoms, but have been, and are receiving, and shall receive partial fulfilments, until their last exhaustive fulfilment before Christ's coming. So as to the other events foretold here. The glory even of those in Paradise will only be complete when Christ's and the Church's foes are cast out, and the earth will become Christ's kingdom at His coming to raise the sleeping saints.
Lord--Greek, "Master"; implying that He has them and their foes and all His creatures as absolutely at His disposal, as a master has his slaves; hence, in Rev 6:11, "fellow servants," or fellow slaves follows.
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holy--Greek, "the Holy one."
avenge--"exact vengeance for our blood."
on--Greek, "from them."
that dwell on the earth--the ungodly, of earth, earthly, as distinguished from the Church, whose home and heart are even now in heavenly places.
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 10. How long—Of course there was no literal utterance…
10. How long—Of course there was no literal utterance by martyred souls of these words. It is a dramatic form of expressing the profound thought that murdered innocence has a claim on the divine justice for timely retribution. The words are an inspired assurance that Jehovah holds himself bound to be not only holy and true, but retributively just. And this is strikingly recognised by Jesus himself in the parable of the unjust judge, and his closing words, so wonderfully like the present passage: “Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” Luk_18:7-8, where see our notes.
Judge—An appeal for either temporal retribution or for a speedy final judgment throne.
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Them that dwell on the earth—The profane world; omitting all mention of the few saintly exceptions. So our Lord: “Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Mat_24:9.
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 10. How long] Cf. Psa_94:3.
10. How long] Cf. Psa_94:3.
O Lord] Not the ordinary word of reverence applied to God, but one meaning (as we say) “lord and master.” It is used of God in Luk_2:29, Act_4:24; and of Christ in Judges 4 (according to the right reading and probable translation), 2Pe_2:1. Perhaps, as the usual word “Lord” in the N. T. and other Hellenistic writings stands for the Name Jehovah, so this is used where the sense “Lord” is really meant, i.e. it answers to the name Adonai, which the Jews pronounced instead of the Unutterable Name, and which Symeon and the Apostolic Church no doubt used in their thanksgivings. Their use of the word, especially in the latter instance, shews that it is no argument for these Martyrs being only Jews—as though it proved a servile rather than filial spirit, as some have imagined: at most, it only proves Jewish habits of expression, and it needs no proof that such prevail throughout this Book.
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dost thou not … avenge] It has been argued again from this, that the temper of the Martyrs’ souls is less than Christian. But however right it may be to contrast 2Ch_24:22 with Act_7:60, no one can surely imagine that the spirit of this passage is a selfish desire for personal vengeance. As we meet with the germ of the thought in Psa_94:3, so we have a developement of it, substantially identical with this, from the mouth of Christ Himself, Luk_18:2-8. Faith looks on evil with a hatred like God’s own—shares God’s will that it shall not triumph, and trusts in God that it will not: but without sharing the depth of God’s counsels, Who knows best how and when to overthrow it. Therefore the Church on earth (the probable meaning of the Widow) and the Saints in heaven, cry alike to God to execute His own purpose, and bring the reign of evil to an end—and He does not yet, but He surely will.
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 (10) How long . . .?—Better. Until when. O…
(10) How long . . .?—Better. Until when. O Master (the word is the correlative of “servant,” see Rev_6:10) the Holy and True, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood from (on) those who dwell on the earth? By a dramatic figure the persecuted and slain ones are represented as crying for retribution on their oppressors. It is not the Christians themselves (Luk_23:34; and Act_7:60) who cry for vengeance, any more than it was Abel himself who cried from the ground to God: it was the blood of Abel (Gen_4:10), the earth disclosed her blood, and refused to cover her slain. The forgotten or ignored wrongs of generations come forth from oblivion and cry for vengeance. It is a poetical description, but it is not fiction. The righteous blood shed does fall upon the world in retribution: the laws of God avenge themselves, though the victims do not live to behold the reward of the ungodly. On the epithets Holy and True, see Notes on Rev_3:7.
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 And they cried with a loud voice, saying; i.e.…
And they cried with a loud voice, saying; i.e. the souls cried. Ebrard, Dusterdieck, Hengstenberg, make "the slain" nominative, in contradistinction to the "souls," which is both unnecessary and unnatural. Zullig compares Gen_4:10, "The voice of thy brother"s blood crieth unto me from the ground." How long? (comp. Zec_1:12, Zec_1:13, "How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem? And the Lord answered with good words and comfortable words No doubt the souls waiting in Paradise are answered by "comfortable words," yet, not having lost their interest in earthly struggles, nor their longing for the triumphant vindication of God"s glory, they cry, "How long?," not as needing the time to be shortened for their own sakes, for they rest, though not yet entered into the fulness of God"s glory. O Lord, holy and true; O Master, the holy and true (Revised Version). "Master" (despothv) is the correlative of "servant" (doulov). This is the only instance of its occurrence in the Apocalypse. (On "true," see previous passages.) Deal thou not judge and avenge our blood. The cry is not a petition for personal revenge, but a request for the termination of those ills which for a time afflict man, and the termination of which must, by virtue of God"s eternal justice, be accompanied by visible retribution on the wicked. (Cf. Bede, "Those souls which offered themselves a living sacrifice to God pray eternally for his coming to judgment, not from any vindictive feeling against their enemies, but in a spirit of zeal and love for God"s glory and justice, mid for the coming of that day when sin, which is rebellion against him, will be destroyed, and their own bodies will be raised. And so in that prayer wherein Christ teaches us to forgive our enemies, we are also taught to say, "Thy kingdom come. The passage has given rise to varying interpretations, which are thought to be more consonant with the spirit of the gospel. Thus Williams would understand the souls to represent only the Old Testament saints, especially as it is not explicitly said that they died for the witness of Jesus, as in Rev_20:4. On them that dwell on the earth. That is, on the worldly, those who have taken the side of the world in its conflict with Christianity.
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 10. And they cried with a loud voice. Their…
10. And they cried with a loud voice. Their cry denotes that the church had suffered long and severely, and they raise a cry for deliverance.
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:10 The martyrs shouted to the Sovereign Lord because…
6:10 The martyrs shouted to the Sovereign Lord because they trusted in his power to redress their grievances. • how long: Is God slow to act? Will justice be done? God does act decisively (see 6:12-14); his wrath (6:16-17) must be understood in terms of justice, fairness, and righteousness (see Exod 34:5-7; Neh 9:17; Pss 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jon 4:2; Rom 2:6-11). • avenge our blood: This cry for God’s justice follows the pattern of imprecatory (vengeance) psalms (see Pss 6:3; 74:10; 79:5; 80:4; 137:1-9). It also reflects the covenant curses of Deut 28:53-57; 32:35 (quoted in Rom 12:19).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.