Revelation Chapter 1 verse 12 Holy Bible

ASV Revelation 1:12

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;
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BBE Revelation 1:12

And turning to see the voice which said these words to me, I saw seven gold vessels with lights burning in them;
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DARBY Revelation 1:12

And I turned back to see the voice which spoke with me; and having turned, I saw seven golden lamps,
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KJV Revelation 1:12

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
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WBT Revelation 1:12


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WEB Revelation 1:12

I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.
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YLT Revelation 1:12

And I did turn to see the voice that did speak with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lamp-stands,
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - To see the voice. As in Genesis 3:8, "the voice" is put for the speaker. This is the right method in studying the Revelation; we must, like St. John, "turn to see the voice." We must look, not to the events about which it seems to us to speak, but to him who utters it. The book is "the Revelation," not of the secrets of history, but "of Jesus Christ." Seven golden candlesticks. The word λυχνία occurs in Matthew 5:15; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16; Luke 11:33; Hebrews 9:2; and seven times in this book. In Exodus 20:37 we have seven λύχνοι on one λυχνία, seven lamps on one lamp stand. So also in Zechariah 4:2. It is by no means certain that a similar figure is not meant here; the seven-branched candlestick familiar to all who know the Arch of Titus. If the Christ stood "in the midst of the candlesticks," his form would appear as that which united the seven branches. But it is perhaps more natural to understand seven separate lamp stands, each with its own lamp; and these, in contrast with the seven-branched stand of the temple, may represent the elastic multiplicity of the Christian Churches throughout the world in contrast with the rigid unity of the Jewish Church of Jerusalem.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) Seven golden candlesticks.--Comp. the vision in Zechariah 4:2-11. It has been observed that there is a difference in the two visions. In Zech., as in Exodus 25:31-32, the seven branches are united, so as to form one candlestick; here there are said to be seven candlesticks; and from this supposed difference it is argued that we have a hint of the variety of the Christian churches, as distinguished from the singleness of the Jewish church. But is it not more probable that what St. John saw was the old familiar seven-branched candlestick, identical in form with that which has been rendered familiar to all by the Arch of Titus, but that as the mention of the seven churches was then fresh in his mind, his eye fell rather upon the seven limbs and seven lights than on the whole candlestand, especially if, as Prof. Plumptre suggests, the figure of the Christ concealed part of the main stem? Thus to his view the separate individuality of the churches, and their real union in Him who was the Light, would rather be symbolised. Thus, too, the external teachings of the earlier symbols are not disturbed: the new revelation illumines the types and shadows of the older. "These symbols were intended to raise them out of symbols; the truths were to throw light on the parables, rather than the parables on the truths. Men were to study the visions of an earlier day by the revelations of that day" (Maurice, Apocalypse, p. 22).