Revelation 14:2, like the sound of many waters

Revelation 14:2

Revelation 14:2, in every translation this tool compares.

First, in plain English

A crowd in a stadium can sound like a waterfall. Ezekiel heard the noise of many waters near God's throne, and in 43:2 God's own voice sounds like it. John hears a sound from heaven like many waters and loud thunder. This time it is the song of a great crowd with harps. The sound once used for God now comes from his people praising him.

What matches

A sound like many waters, phone hydaton pollon. John used the same picture for Christ's voice in 1:15.

Why it doesn't match exactly

In Ezekiel 43:2 the sound is God's voice; in Ezekiel 1:24 it is the creatures' wings. Here it is the voice of the redeemed. John adds thunder and harps. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says it could be God's voice, but in context it is probably the heavenly multitude.

What John does with it

The praise of the redeemed is loud with the weight of a great crowd. Beale ties it to 19:6, where the same sound praises God after Babylon's fall. Those who sing are the ones bought from the earth.

What this echo is not

Not the voice of God himself here. The sources read it as the song of the multitude.

Go deeper

Beale compares 14:2 with 19:6, which uses nearly identical words for praise after the harlot's judgment, and says the voices are loud because they are the great multitude of 7:9. Keener notes Ezekiel heard the sound of many waters in heaven (Ezekiel 1:24; 43:2) and thunder at Sinai (Exodus 19:16). The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible cites Ezekiel 43:2, Ezekiel 1:24 and Daniel 10:6; the CSB Study Bible cross-references Ezekiel 1:24 and 43:2. The grade is drawn here: the phrase is Ezekiel's, but John uses it as a simile.

Where the sources disagree

Beale thinks the voice may come from angels first, and the redeemed learn the song, or from the redeemed themselves. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible reads it as the heavenly multitude's joyful praise.

The ancient world behind this passage

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Sources

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 14:2-3
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 14:2
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:2
CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 14:2
NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:2
SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 14:2