“And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.”
And this is how I saw the horses in the vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur; and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur issued from their mouths — the cavalry combine military imagery (breastplates, riders) with eschatological symbolism (fire, sapphire-blue, sulfur). The horses' lion-heads (compare the first woe's locusts) suggest predatory violence; the triple emission (fire, smoke, sulfur) from their mouths evokes divine judgment and hellish destruction.
Church Fathers on Revelation 9:17
“And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is in the presence of God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels.” That is, the four corners of the earth which hold the four winds. “Which are bound in the great river Euphrates.” By the corners of the earth, or the four winds across the river Euphrates, are meant four nations, because to every nation is sent an angel; as said the law, “He determined them by the number of the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!