Revelation Chapter 4 verse 4 Holy Bible
And round about the throne `were' four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones `I saw' four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold.
read chapter 4 in ASV
And round about the high seat were four and twenty seats: and on them I saw four and twenty rulers seated, clothed in white robes; and on their heads crowns of gold.
read chapter 4 in BBE
And round the throne twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones twenty-four elders sitting, clothed with white garments; and on their heads golden crowns.
read chapter 4 in DARBY
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
read chapter 4 in KJV
read chapter 4 in WBT
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads.
read chapter 4 in WEB
And around the throne `are' thrones twenty and four, and upon the thrones I saw the twenty and four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and they had upon their heads crowns of gold;
read chapter 4 in YLT
Revelation 4 : 4 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - And round about the throne were four and twenty seats. Throughout the vision no past tense is used. The vision represents the worship of heaven (so far as it can be presented to human understanding) as it continues eternally. Thrones.. seats. Render both by the same English word, as in the Revised Version. Some doubt is attached to the case of the first θρόνοι. Θρόνοι, is found in B, P; and this makes the construction nominative after ἰδού (cf. ver. 2); but א, A, 34, 35, read θρόνους, which causes εϊδον to be understood. The point is immaterial, as the meaning is the same. And upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting. Omit "I saw" (see above). The number twenty-four, the double of twelve, represents the Churches of both the old and the new covenants. The elders are the heads or representatives of the body to which they belong (see Exodus 19:7; Exodus 24:1, and many others; see also the list of elders in Hebrews 11.). In the Christian Church the same distinction exists (see Acts 14:23, "ordained them elders;" Acts 20:17, St. Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus; Acts 21:18, "The elders were present"). So here the elders represent the saints of both the Old and New Testaments. Thus they offer "the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8). Christ, moreover, promised twelve thrones to his disciples (Luke 22:30) though not to the exclusion of the saints of old, for both are conjoined in Revelation 21:12, 14. In Revelation 15:2, 3, the victorious ones sing "the song of Moses and of the Lamb." Other interpretations which have been advanced are (1) that the twenty-four elders represent the great and minor prophets (St. Hippolytus); (2) higher angels - the celestial priesthood, as denoted by their white garments and the number twenty-four, the number of courses of the Levitical priesthood (Reuss); (3) simply angels (Hoffmann); . . .
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4)And round about the throne were four and twenty seats (or, thrones), and upon the seats (or, thrones) I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.--Perhaps the wish to give its due pre-eminence to the thought of Him who sat on the throne caused our translators to describe the elders as sitting on seats; but the same word throne is used of both, and those who are now seated on thrones are called (Revelation 5:10) kings and priests. In the similar vision in Ezekiel no human beings are seen; their appearance here is significant. They are the representatives of Christ's Church and people, of those whom Christ calls His friends, and who are admitted to know what their Lord doeth (John 15:15). Various reasons have been suggested why they should be described as twenty-four in number; they are the twelve tribes doubled, to signify the union of the Gentile with the Jewish Church; they are the two sets of twelve, to represent the two Testaments; they are the twelve Patriarchs cojoined with the twelve Apostles. It will be seen that these were all different forms of the same thought, that the twenty-four elders represent the complete Church of God in the past and in the future, in the Jewish and Gentile worlds; and as such the true spiritual successors, as priests to God, of those twenty-four courses (1Chronicles 24:1-19) arranged by David, and which some have thought gave rise to the use of the number twenty-four in this passage. It is the great united Church. The same thought is touched upon in the double song of Moses and the Lamb (Revelation 15:3), and in the gates and foundations of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:12; Revelation 21:14). . . .
