Revelation 4:9, the one who lives forever and ever

Revelation 4:9; Revelation 4:10

Revelation 4:9; Revelation 4:10, in every translation this tool compares.

First, in plain English

A plaque that says founded long before you and still here after you puts every visitor in their place. The creatures and elders praise the one who lives forever and ever. Daniel uses the same title twice. A humbled King Nebuchadnezzar praises the one who lives forever, and an angel swears by him. Beale hears both behind John's words.

What matches

A title for God built on two words, live and forever. The Greek of Daniel 4:34 has to zonti eis tous aionas, to the one who lives forever. Daniel 12:7 has en to zonti eis ton aiona. Revelation 4:9 and 4:10 have to zonti eis tous aionas ton aionon, to the one who lives forever and ever.

Why it doesn't match exactly

John doubles the forever into forever and ever, as Revelation does throughout. In Daniel 4 a pagan king says it after God humbles him; in Daniel 12 an angel swears by it. In Revelation the heavenly court sings it in worship. The phrase also occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament, Beale grants, but the closest wording is Daniel's.

What John does with it

In Daniel the eternal God outlasts kings who made themselves gods and persecuted his people. Beale reads the same contrast here: God's endless reign outlasts the emperor's. It warns readers not to give divine honor to rulers, and it assures them that they will be vindicated.

What this echo is not

Not a stock phrase with no source. Beale grants that the phrase is found about five times outside Daniel. But he finds the two Daniel verses the closest, and the best fit for a scene built on Daniel 7.

Go deeper

Beale says that forms of the phrase occur about five times in the Old Testament outside Daniel, but that the closest verbal parallels are Daniel 4:34 (Theodotion) and 12:7, each with a dative participle of zao (live) followed by a temporal aion phrase. These two form the most probable collective influence on 4:9b, and a phrase from Daniel suits a vision patterned on Daniel 7. In both Daniel texts God's eternity contrasts with the passing reigns of evil kings who claimed deity and persecuted God's people (Daniel 4:30-33; 11:36-37; 12:7). The threefold verbal introduction of 4:9-10 also matches Daniel 4:34, where Nebuchadnezzar blessed, praised and glorified the one who lives forever. The ESV Study Bible links the title to the creatures' praise of God's eternal life. The grade is Beale's: he calls the Daniel texts the most probable influence.

Where the sources disagree

Beale reads the title as a pointed contrast with rulers who claimed divine titles. The ESV Study Bible reads the same words as praise for God's eternal life, without the Daniel contrast. No source denies the Daniel link.

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 4:9, 4:10 and 4:11
ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 4:6-8
Septuagint, Daniel 4:34 and 12:7, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 4:9-10