Revelation 9:16
in Revelation 9And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them.
KJV
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
⋯
This verse in Revelation 9
Commentary
12 notes on this verseAnd the number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. This number designates the deceptive duplicity of the perverse army. Which another translation, saying "twice ten thousand times ten thousand," can be more easily understood; and this number is also opposed by the evangelical …
This site's exposition
prepared for this hour and day
on Revelation 9:15-16
The four angels had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year, a time fixed, to kill a third of mankind. John says of the army of two hundred million, I heard their number, and no army of the ancient world came near it.
This site's exposition
I heard their number
Clarke notes that no army of two hundred million was ever gathered, and allows that the number may mean a host too great to count. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the horses and riders as probably from the Abyss. John heard their number.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"The number of that cavalry was eighty thousand." … He again uses different ways to suggest the whole body of evil persons. Here it says eighty thousand. Just as through the perfection of the number six, he signifies for us the form of sixty good …
When this happened, they went out with an innumerable "cavalry" force. And he says this is the invincible power of the divine angels, accompanied by the greatest cavalry; and he says he saw those sitting on the "horses" wearing fiery, "hyacinth", and divine "breastplates".
The Medieval Church1 voice
And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. I heard the number of them. This number refers specifically to preachers of errors, but in such a way that the seduced people are also understood in the seducers. We see …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the number of the horsemen was two hundred millions - Not that so many were ever brought into the field at once, but (if we understand the expression literally) in the course of "the hour, and day, and month, and year." So neither were "the third part of men killed" at once, but during that course of years.
The time of their military operations and executions is limited to an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year. Prophetic characters of time are hardly to be understood by us; but in general the time is fixed to an hour, when it shall begin and when it shall end; and how far the execution shall prevail, even to a third part of the inhabitants of the earth.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the number of the army of the horsemen,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Two hundred thousand thousand - Δυο μυριαδες μυριαδων· Two myriads of myriads; that is, two hundred millions; an army that was never yet got together from the foundation of the world, and could not find forage in any part of the earth. Perhaps it only means vast numbers, multitudes without number. Such a number might be literally true of the locusts. Those who will have their particular system supported by the images in this most obscure book, tell us that the number here means all the soldiers that were employed in this war, from its commencement to its end!
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The hosts here are evidently, from their numbers and their appearance (Re 9:17), not merely human hosts, but probably infernal, though constrained to work out God's will (compare Re 9:1, 2). and I heard--A, B, Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN omit "and."
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And the number of the army of the horsemen - It is to be observed here that the strength of the army seemed to be cavalry. In the former plagues there is no distinct mention of horsemen; but here what struck the beholder was the immense and unparalleled number of horsemen. Were two hundred thousand thousand - A thousand thousand is one million, and consequently the number here referred to would be 200 million. This would be a larger army than was ever assembled, and it cannot be supposed that it is to be taken literally. That it would be a very large host - so large that it would not be readily numbered - is clear. The expression in the original, while it naturally conveys the idea of an immense number, would seem also to refer to some uniqueness in the manner of reckoning them. The language is, “two myriads of myriads” - δύο μυριάδες μυριάδων duo muriades muriadōn. The myriad was ten thousand. The idea would seem to be this. John saw an immense host of cavalry. They appeared to be divided into large bodies that were in some degree separate, and that might be reckoned by ten thousands. Of these different squadrons there were many, and to express their great and unusual numbers he said that there seemed to be myriads of them - two myriads of myriads, or twice ten thousand myriads. The army thus would seem to be immense - an army, as we should say, to be reckoned by tens of thousands. And I heard the number of them - They were so numerous that he did not pretend to be able to estimate the number himself, for it was beyond his power of computation; but he heard it stated in these round numbers, that there were “two myriads of myriads” of them.
The words behind it
13 Greek wordsEvery 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.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὁ | ho | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀριθμὸς | arithmos | number | G706 → | 18 times |
| τῶν | ton | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| στρατευμάτων | strateumaton | armies | G4753 → | 8 times |
| τοῦ | tou | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἱππικοῦ | hippikou | cavalry [was] | G2461 → | |
| δισμυριάδες | dismuriades | twice ten thousand | G1364 →G3461 → | 9 times |
| μυριάδων· | muriadon | ten thousands; | G3461 → | 9 times |
| ἤκουσα | ekousa | I heard | G191 → | 425 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀριθμὸν | arithmon | number | G706 → | 18 times |
| αὐτῶν.¶ | auton | of them. | G846 → | 5565 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὁthe
hoG3588 →19766 times
ἀριθμὸςnumber
arithmosG706 →18 times
τῶνof the
tonG3588 →19766 times
στρατευμάτωνarmies
strateumatonG4753 →8 times
τοῦof the
touG3588 →19766 times
ἱππικοῦcavalry [was]
hippikouG2461 →
δισμυριάδεςtwice ten thousand
μυριάδων·ten thousands;
muriadonG3461 →9 times
ἤκουσαI heard
ekousaG191 →425 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
ἀριθμὸνnumber
arithmonG706 →18 times
αὐτῶν.¶of them.
autonG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Daniel 7:10A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 33:2
He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 5:11
Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 30:27
Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.
- Revelation 20:11–15
Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
- Psalms 50:3
Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
- Deuteronomy 33:2
Through
Psalms 68:17The chariots of God are tens of thousands— thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
it leads to
- Daniel 7:10
A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.
- Daniel 7:10
Through
Revelation 7:4And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel:
it leads to
- Revelation 14:1
Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.
- Revelation 14:3
And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the…
- Revelation 14:1
Where this verse is studied
About Revelation
This page draws on 11 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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; 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 and Primasius of Hadrumetum, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:16.