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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 19:4, amen, hallelujah
The elders' amen and hallelujah echo the close of Psalm 106, where all the people answer God's rescue with the same two words.
Revelation 19:4, in every translation this tool compares.
A congregation that answers a prayer with the closing words of a well-known hymn is joining an older choir. Psalm 106 ends with all the people saying amen and praise the Lord, after God gathered them back from their enemies. In Revelation 19 the elders and the living creatures around the throne say the same pair, amen and hallelujah. They seal the crowd's praise for the judgment of Babylon.
The pair amen and hallelujah as a closing response of worship. In Hebrew Psalm 106:48 ends with amen and hallelu-yah. John has amen halleluia.
In the psalm the whole people speak. In Revelation the heavenly elders answer, with the creatures around the throne. The old Greek translation of the psalm does not keep hallelujah at this point; it has may it be, twice. So John's pair matches the Hebrew line, a point drawn here.
Beale says the pairing fits its setting. In the psalm the people thank God for gathering them after rescue from their oppressors. In Revelation the heavenly council does the same after God judges the city that oppressed the saints.
Not a quotation of a whole verse. Only the closing pair of words is shared, with the setting of thanks after rescue.
Beale says the declaration echoes Psalm 106:48 and that the wording is not haphazard, since the psalm's thanks follows God's gathering of his people from oppressors (106:42-48). The ESV Study Bible says amen expresses confident certainty or strong agreement. The CSB Study Bible's cross-references list Psalm 106:48 at this verse. In the vault's Septuagint, Psalm 106:48 closes with genoito genoito, may it be, may it be, the usual Greek rendering of amen there; hallelujah does not appear at that point. The Hebrew of the verse ends ve'amar kol ha'am amen hallelu-yah, and all the people shall say amen, hallelujah. The grade is drawn here by Beale's definitions: a short pair that is common in worship, made likely by the shared setting.
Beale and the CSB Study Bible tie the words to Psalm 106:48. The ESV Study Bible treats them as standard words of worship and names no psalm.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 19:4
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:4
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 19:4
- Septuagint, Psalm 106:48, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- Hebrew text of Psalm 106:48, Miqra according to the Masorah (Sefaria)
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 19:4
