Lectionary Calendar
Friday, August 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

启示录 7:13

長老中有一位問我:“這些身穿白袍的是誰?他們是從哪裡來的呢?”

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Angel (a Spirit);   Colors;   Elder;   Heaven;   Jesus Continued;   Persecution;   Righteous;   Robe;   Throne;   Thompson Chain Reference - Afflicted, Promises, Divine;   Afflictions;   Future, the;   God's;   Preparation;   Promises, Divine;   Readiness-Unreadiness;   Saved, the;   The Topic Concordance - Following;   Hunger;   Service;   Thirst;   Tribulation;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Garments;   Mourning;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Color, Symbolic Meaning of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Order;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Dress;   Feasts;   Frankincense;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Revelation, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hope;   Revelation, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Comfort;   Heaven;   Israel;   Tribes ;   Type;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Elders;   Lamb;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Array;   Color;   Immortal;   Revelation of John:;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for May 14;  

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
长 老 中 有 一 位 问 我 说 : 这 些 穿 白 衣 的 是 谁 ? 是 从 那 里 来 的 ?

Contextual Overview

13 Then one of the elders asked me, "Who are these people dressed in white robes? Where did they come from?" 14 I answered, "You know, sir." And the elder said to me, "These are the people who have come out of the great distress. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Because of this, they are before the throne of God. They worship him day and night in his temple. And the One who sits on the throne will be present with them. 16 Those people will never be hungry again, and they will never be thirsty again. The sun will not hurt them, and no heat will burn them, 17 because the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of water that give life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

one: Revelation 4:4, Revelation 4:10, Revelation 5:5, Revelation 5:11

arrayed: Revelation 7:9

whence: Genesis 16:8, Judges 13:6, John 7:28

Reciprocal: Leviticus 6:10 - linen garment Psalms 51:7 - whiter Ecclesiastes 9:8 - thy garments Isaiah 64:6 - all our Daniel 7:16 - one Daniel 12:10 - shall be Zechariah 1:9 - what Zechariah 1:19 - What Zechariah 3:3 - General Zechariah 4:4 - What Zechariah 13:1 - a fountain Luke 15:22 - the best Romans 6:22 - become Revelation 3:4 - walk Revelation 3:18 - white Revelation 19:8 - the fine Revelation 22:11 - and he that

Cross-References

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:10
He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 6:18
But I will make an agreement with you—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives will all go into the boat.
Genesis 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are the best person among the people of this time, so you and your family can go into the boat.
Genesis 7:2
Take with you seven pairs, each male with its female, of every kind of clean animal, and take one pair, each male with its female, of every kind of unclean animal.
Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe off from the earth every living thing that I have made."
Genesis 7:7
He and his wife and his sons and their wives went into the boat to escape the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:9
came to Noah. They went into the boat in groups of two, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah.
Genesis 7:18
The water continued to rise, and the boat floated on it above the earth.
Genesis 7:19
The water rose so much that even the highest mountains under the sky were covered by it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,.... This elder was not the Apostle Peter, as some Popish interpreters have thought; and still less Pope Silvester, who lived in the times of Constantine; be is much more likely, according to others, to be Constantine himself, the first of the elders, or the chief magistrate when the church sprung out of its troubles, and enjoyed rest and peace; though some have thought of the prophet Isaiah, since many things said by this elder are to be found in his prophecy; compare Revelation 7:14; with Isaiah 1:18; but it is needless to inquire who the particular person was; it is enough to say, that he was one of the four and twenty elders about the throne, one that belonged to the church, perhaps the same as in Revelation 5:5; who, in a visionary way, is represented as accosting John upon the above sight. The word "answered" is a common Hebraism of the New Testament, which is often used when nothing goes before, to which a return is made; and only signifies here, that the elder opened his month, began to speak, and called to John, and said as follows:

what are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? This he said, not as being ignorant of them, or of the reason of their being clothed in this manner, nor of the place and state from whence they came, as appears by the account afterwards given of them by him; but to stir up John to take more notice of them, as being a body of men that were worthy of observation and contemplation, and were worth his while to consider well who they were, and from whence they came; and also to try him whether he knew them or not, and to bring him to a confession of his ignorance; and that he might have an opportunity of giving him some hints about them, which might be useful to him, and to the churches, and for the explanation of this vision, and other parts of this prophecy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And one of the elders - See the notes on Revelation 4:4. That is, as there understood, one of the representatives of the church before the throne.

Answered - The word “answer,” with us, means “to reply to something which has been said.” In the Bible, however, the word is not infrequently used in the beginning of a speech, where nothing has been said - as if it were a reply to something that might be said on the subject; or to something that is passing through the mind of another; or to something in the case under consideration which suggests an inquiry. Compare Isaiah 65:24; Daniel 2:26; Acts 5:8. Thus it is used here. John was looking on the host, and reflecting on the state of things; and to the train of thought passing through his mind the angel answered by an inquiry as to a part of that host. Prof. Stuart renders it accosted me.

What are these which are arrayed in white robes? - Who are these? The object evidently is to bring the case of these persons more particularly into view. The vast host with branches of palm had attracted the attention of John, but it was the object of the speaker to turn his thoughts to a particular part of the host - the martyrs who stood among them. He would seem, therefore, to have turned to a particular portion of the immense multitude of the redeemed, and by an emphasis on the word these - “Who are these” - to have fixed the eye upon them. All those who are before the throne are represented as clothed in white robes Revelation 7:9, but the eye might be directed to a particular part of them as grouped together, and as having something special in their position or appearance. There was a propriety in thus directing the mind of John to the martyrs as triumphing in heaven in a time when the churches were suffering persecution, and in view of the vision which he had had of times of darkness and calamity coming upon the world at the opening of the sixth seal. Beyond all the scenes of sorrow and grief, he was permitted to see the martyrs triumphing in heaven.

Arrayed in white robes - See the notes on Revelation 7:9.

And whence came they? - The object is to fix the attention more distinctly on what is said of them, that they came up out of great tribulation.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 7:13. One of the elders answered — A Hebraism for spoke. The question is here asked, that the proposer may have the opportunity of answering it.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile