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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 5:9, a new song
The elders sing a new song, the Psalms' and Isaiah's call to praise God for a fresh victory, now sung to the Lamb.
Revelation 5:9, in every translation this tool compares.
A crowd that makes up a new chant after a big win is saying no old song is big enough. The creatures and elders sing a new song to the Lamb. The Psalms and Isaiah often call God's people to sing a new song when he wins a victory or does a new saving act. John's heaven sings one now, for the Lamb.
The phrase new song. Psalm 144:9 in Greek has oden kainen, a new song, sung with a harp; Revelation 5:9 has oden kainen sung by elders who hold harps (5:8). Psalm 98:1 and Isaiah 42:10 call for a new song to the Lord.
In the Old Testament a new song is offered to God alone, the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes. John's new song is sung to the Lamb. The Psalms praise a victory over Israel's enemies; this song praises a death that redeemed people from every nation. The phrase occurs in many places, so no single psalm is its source.
Beale says a new song in the Old Testament always praises God's victory over the enemy, sometimes with thanks for creation. Here it praises the defeat of evil and sin through the Lamb. Beale also hears in the word new the new creation, begun, he says, by the Lamb's death. Chapter 21 calls it a new heaven and earth.
Not a quotation of one psalm. The phrase appears in at least six psalms and in Isaiah. The grade is possible because the wording is general, even though the phrase itself matches exactly.
Beale lists the new song texts (Psalms 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10) and says the song in the Old Testament is always praise for God's victory over the enemy. Kainos ties Christ's work to new creation: the vision flows from creation in 4:11, the hymns of 5:12-13 parallel 4:11, kainos marks the new creation in 21:1-5, and Jewish writings link the new song to the messianic age (Numbers Rabbah 15.11; Exodus Rabbah 23.11 on Psalm 98:1). Of the seven Old Testament uses, four are tied to God's act of creation. Keener says the temple's inspired psalms were called new songs and cites the same psalms; the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, the CSB Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible cite them too. Psalm 144:9 in Greek joins the new song and the harp, as 5:8-9 does, a link Beale points out. The grade is drawn here: the phrase is common to many texts.
Prigent, as Beale reports, takes the new song directly from the paschal liturgy of John's church; Beale says it is just as likely taken from the Old Testament. Keener reads it as freshly inspired worship, like the temple singers' new songs. Beale hears the new creation already begun in the song. MacArthur reads it as looking ahead to the final redemption God is about to begin.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 5:9 and on 4:1-5:14, Chapters 4-5 as a Heavenly Liturgy
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 5:9-10
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:9
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:9-10
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:9
- Septuagint, Psalm 98:1, 144:9 and Isaiah 42:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 5:9
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 5:9
