Revelation Chapter 1 verse 3 Holy Bible

ASV Revelation 1:3

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.
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BBE Revelation 1:3

A blessing be on the reader, and on those who give ear to the prophet's words, and keep the things which he has put in the book: for the time is near.
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DARBY Revelation 1:3

Blessed [is] he that reads, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written in it; for the time [is] near.
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KJV Revelation 1:3

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
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WBT Revelation 1:3


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WEB Revelation 1:3

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
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YLT Revelation 1:3

Happy is he who is reading, and those hearing, the words of the prophecy, and keeping the things written in it -- for the time is nigh!
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - He that readeth this book publicly in the church, and they that hear the book read, are equally blessed. There is grace promised to both minister and congregation who live up to the spirit of the Scriptures. St. John here suggests that a usage common in the Jewish Church (Luke 4:16; Acts 15:21; 2 Corinthians 3:15) may be adopted in the Christian Church. Probably this verse is the earliest authority for the public reading of the New Testament Scripture. It is very precarious to argue that "the Apocalypse, which points to this custom, cannot have been composed in the year 68," because this Christian custom is of later origin than 68. The official communications of apostles were sure to be read publicly in the churches (see Lightfoot on Colossians 4:16). Until the new lectionary came into use, the blessing here promised to the liturgical use of the Apocalypse was sadly neglected in the English Church. One might almost have supposed that a blessing had been pronounced on those who do not read and do not hear the prophecy. The words of this prophecy; literally, of the prophecy; i.e. "the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:7, 18). That which is a revelation in reference to Christ is a prophecy in reference to John. "Prophecy" must not be narrowed down to the vulgar meaning of foretelling future events; it is the forthtelling of the mind of God. Prophecy, in the narrow sense of prediction, cannot well be kept. It is God's call to repentance, obedience, steadfastness, and prayer that must be kept by both reader and hearers in order to bring a blessing. And if the words are to be kept, they can be understood. We have no right to set aside the Revelation as an insoluble puzzle (comp. Luke 11:28, where, however, we have φυλάσσειν, not τηρεῖν). The time is at hand. The appointed time, the season foreordained of God (καιρός, not χρόνος), is near. We may ask, with F.D. Maurice, "Did not the original writer use words in their simple, natural sense? If he told the hearers and readers of his day that the time was at hand, did he not mean them to understand that it was at hand?" No doubt. But that does not preclude us from interpreting the inspired words as referring, not only to events near St. John's time, but also to other events of which they were the foretastes and figures. To us the meaning is that the type of the end has been foretold and has come, and the end itself, which has been equally foretold, must be watched for in all seriousness.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) Blessed is he that readeth. . . . prophecy.--Any declaration of the principles of the divine government, with indications of their exemplification in coming history, is a prophecy. Sometimes the history which exemplifies these principles is immediate, sometimes more remote; in other cases (as, I venture to believe, is the case with the predictions of this book) the events are both immediate and remote. The prophecy gives us the rule, with some typical application illustrative of its method of working; after-history affords us the working out of various examples. We, then, as living actors in the world, have not only to read and hear, but to keep--keep in mind and action those principles which preside over the development of all human history (James 1:22). The word "keep" is in itself a proof to me that the whole fulfilment of the Apocalypse could not have been exhausted in the earliest times, nor reserved to the latest times of the Church's history, but that its predictions are applicable in all eras.The time is at hand.--In the apostolic mind this was always true, though the restless idleness of the Thessalonians was blamed (2Thessalonians 2:2; 2Thessalonians 3:11-12). The spirit of vigilance and of ever readiness for both the providential advents and the final advent of the Christ was enjoined. (Comp. Romans 13:12; James 5:9; 2Peter 3:8-9.) . . .