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Revelation 11:5

in Revelation 11

If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed.

KJV

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

This verse in Revelation 11

Commentary

13 notes on this verse
"If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies." That fire proceedeth out of the mouth of those prophets against the adversaries, bespeaks the power of the world. For all afflictions, however many there are, shall be sent by their messengers in their word. Many think that there is Elisha, or Moses, with Elijah; but both of these died; while the death of Elijah is not heard of, with whom all our ancients have believed that it was Jeremiah.

This site's exposition

fire proceeds from their mouths

on Revelation 11:5-6

When anyone would harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies, as fire fell on Elijah's captains in 2 Kings 1. They can shut the sky so that no rain will fall, as Elijah did, and turn the waters into blood, as Moses did.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 550.

proposed

And he says that those who wish to wrong them are defended by fire going forth from their mouths, and they have the authority to shut the sky so that no rain falls during the days of their prophecy. This is among the most probable; …

A commentator

Caesarius of Arles

EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 11:5, HOMILY 8 · Written before 542.

proposed

Should anyone harm the church or wish to harm her, through the prayers of her mouth he shall be consumed by a divine fire either in the present age for his correction or in the future age for his damnation.

A commentator

Ticonius

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 11:5 · Written before 390.

proposed

This means that should anyone wish to harm the church, as one condemned he is consumed by a fire, which harms in the very same manner as a sort of reciprocal judgment. That is, he receives justly that very thing which he desired to inflict …

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Alcuin of York

COMMENTARY ON REVELATION · Written before 804.

proposed

And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of their mouths, and shall devour their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain. What is symbolized by fire but holy preaching kindled by the firebrands …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth, etc. If anyone harms the Church, he is consumed by the fire of judgment, reciprocating the harm. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword (Matthew XXVI). Hence, the Chaldean …
6 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Some think this alludes to Elias's calling for the fire from heaven, to consume the captains and their companies that came to seize him, 2 Kings i. God promised the prophet Jeremiah ( ch.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

proposed

So they began to do, before St. John wrote. And it has been trodden almost ever since by the Romans, Persians, Saracens, and Turks. But that severe kind of treading which is here peculiarly spoken of, will not be till under the trumpet of the seventh angel, and toward the end of the troublous times.
And if any man will hurt them,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

And if any man will hurt them - This implies that there would be those who would be disposed to injure or wrong them; that is, that they would be liable to persecution. The word “will” is here more than the mere sign of the future; it denotes “intention, purpose, design,” θέλεὶ thelei - “if any man wills or purposes to injure them.” See a similar use of the word in 1Ti 6:

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

23:29). out of their mouth--not literally, but God makes their inspired denunciations of judgment to come to pass and devour their enemies. if any man will hurt them--twice repeated, to mark the immediate certainty of the accomplishment. in this manner--so in like manner as he tries to hurt them (compare Re 13:10).

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Fire proceedeth out of their mouth - That is, they are commissioned to denounce the judgments of God against all who would attempt to prevent them from proceeding in their ministry.

The words behind it

27 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 5:14

    Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 23:29

      “Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Jeremiah 1:9

      Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

    • Hosea 6:5

      Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.

  • Through

    Isaiah 11:4

    but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 19:15

      And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…

    • 2 Thessalonians 2:8

      And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

    • Job 4:9

      By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

    • Proverbs 31:8–9

      Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.

    • Malachi 4:6

      And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Where this verse is studied

About Revelation

The Transfiguration, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
The Transfiguration, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alcuin of York, COMMENTARY ON REVELATION; Bede, Commentary on Revelation; Caesarius of Arles, EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 11:5, HOMILY 8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation; Ticonius, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 11:5 and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.