Revelation Chapter 20 verse 1 Holy Bible
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
read chapter 20 in ASV
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the great deep and a great chain in his hand.
read chapter 20 in BBE
And I saw an angel descending from the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand.
read chapter 20 in DARBY
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
read chapter 20 in KJV
read chapter 20 in WBT
I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
read chapter 20 in WEB
And I saw a messenger coming down out of the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain over his hand,
read chapter 20 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 1. - And I saw an angel come down from heaven; coming down out of heaven. The usual mode of introducing a new vision (cf. Revelation 4:1, etc.). On account of Revelation 1:18, some have considered this angel to be Christ himself; but this is incorrect. As in Revelation 12:7-9, an angel is the immediate agent in this expulsion of Satan (vide infra). Having the key of the bottomless pit; the abyss; as in Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8. In all these places the word signifies the present abode of Satan and his angels, whence they direct their operations in hostility to God, not the place of their final punishment (see ver. 10). In Luke 8:31 the word has exactly the same meaning; while in the only remaining place where it is used in the New Testament, viz. Romans 10:7, it stands for the place of abode of the souls of the dead. Having the key of the abyss therefore informs us that power is given to this angel over Satan during the time of this world's existence. And a great chain in his hand; literally, upon his hand, as if lying on it and hanging from it; the chain evidently symbolizing the power of the angel over the inhabitants of the abyss, and the purpose with which he now comes, viz. to restrain the power of Satan.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersTHE BINDING OF SATAN.(1) And I saw an angel come down . . .--Rather, And I saw an angel descending out of the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain on (not merely in his hand, but hanging from it as it would do when on) his hand. It is needless to settle who is represented by this angel. It is enough that in the vision he manifests by the key and the chain which he carries that there is power in Him, who has the keys of death and of Hades (Revelation 1:18), to bind, as He has death-wounded, him that had the power of death. The bottomless pit is the abyss, as we have had elsewhere (Revelation 9:1; Revelation 11:7; and Revelation 17:8. Comp. Luke 8:31); it is figuratively the abode of the devil and his associate angels (Matthew 25:41). . . .
