启示录 7:3

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

說：“你們不要傷害地、海和樹木，等我們在　神眾僕人的額上先蓋上了印。”

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
地 与 海 并 树 木 ， 你 们 不 可 伤 害 ， 等 我 们 印 了 我 们 神 众 仆 人 的 额 。

Contextual Overview

¹ After the vision of these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. The angels were holding the four winds of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming up from the east who had the seal of the living God. And he called out in a loud voice to the four angels to whom God had given power to harm the earth and the sea. ³ He said to them, "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we mark with a sign the foreheads of the people who serve our God." ⁴ Then I heard how many people were marked with the sign. There were one hundred forty-four thousand from every tribe of the people of Israel. ⁵ From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were marked with the sign, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, ⁶ from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, ⁷ from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, ⁸ from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, and from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were marked with the sign. ⁹ After the vision of these things I looked, and there was a great number of people, so many that no one could count them. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language of the earth. They were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ They were shouting in a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hurt not: Revelation 6:6, Revelation 9:4, Isaiah 6:13, Isaiah 27:8, Isaiah 65:8, Matthew 24:22, Matthew 24:31

till: Revelation 14:1, Exodus 12:13, Exodus 12:23, Isaiah 26:20, Isaiah 26:21, Exodus 9:4-6, Zephaniah 2:3

the servants: Revelation 19:2, Isaiah 54:17, Daniel 3:17, Daniel 3:26, Daniel 6:16, Malachi 3:18, John 12:26, Romans 6:22

in their: Revelation 13:16, Revelation 14:1, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 22:4

Reciprocal: Psalms 71:3 - thou hast Song of Solomon 4:12 - sealed Ezekiel 9:4 - set a mark Ezekiel 9:6 - but 2 Corinthians 1:22 - sealed Revelation 7:2 - having Revelation 17:5 - upon

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,.... That is, as yet, for their commission was not contradicted, nor taken away by Christ; and at the time appointed, at the blowing of the several trumpets, they let loose the winds, and let in the Goths, Hans, and Vandals, the Saracens and Turks into the empire, and after that poured out the vials of God's wrath upon the Romish antichrist: this retarding of them was but in appearance, that there might be an opportunity to show to John what care would be taken all along of the church of Christ, and true servants of the living God:

till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads; the servants of sin, Satan, and the beast of Rome, were took no notice nor care of; they were the persons to be hurt by the winds, signified by the earth, sea, and trees, even idolaters, small and great; but "the servants of our God", who serve him with grace in their hearts, from a principle of love, in the exercise of faith, without servile fear, and with reverence and godly fear, in righteousness and true holiness, and with a view to his glory; and are worshippers of him in spirit and in truth, being followers of the Lamb, whithersoever he goes; and so are the servants of his God, and their God; the sealing of them does not design the sealing of them with the seal of election, this was done in eternity; nor with the seal of the Spirit, which is common to all the saints in all ages; but it denotes the hiding and concealing, and so securing the saints amidst all the calamities of the empire, and throughout the whole time of the Romish apostasy, from first to last; and respects the time when the church fled into the wilderness, and was hid, and nourished with the hidden manna, for a time, and times, and half a time, Revelation 12:14. Christ set a mark upon them, as was upon the houses of the Israelites, when the destroying angel passed through Egypt, and destroyed the firstborn in it; and as was upon the foreheads of those that sighed and cried in Jerusalem, when orders were given to slay young and old, Exodus 12:23. Christ will have a people in the worst of times; he knows who are his, and he will take care of them; he has his chambers of protection to hide them in, till the indignation is over past: the sealers, "we", are either Father, Son, and Spirit, who are all jointly concerned for the welfare of the eject; or Christ and his ministering angels that attend him, whom he employs for the good and safety of the heirs of salvation: the seal with which these are sealed is the seal of the living God, the foreknowledge, love, care, and power of God; and the name of God, even Christ's Father's name, and their Father's name, in their foreheads; the new name of children of God, by and under which they are known and preserved by him: and this is said to be "in their foreheads", in allusion to servants, who used to be marked in their foreheads; hence they are called by Apuleius c "frontes literati"; and by Martial, a servant is called "fronte notatus" d: but then these were such who had committed faults, and this was done by way of punishment e; wherefore it can hardly be thought that the servants of God should be sealed, in allusion to them: but rather with reference to the mitre on the high priest's forehead, as some think; or it may be to Ezekiel 9:4, and shows, that though these persons were hid and concealed from men, they were well known to God and Christ; nor were they ashamed to make a public and open confession of Christ before men, as did the true and faithful witnesses of Christ, the Waldenses and Albigenses, in the midst of the greatest darkness of Popery, and of danger from men; and who seem to be chiefly intended.

c Metamorph. l. 9. p. 130. d Epigr. l. 3. Ep. 20. e Vid. Popma de Operis Servorum, p. 170, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea ... - Let the winds be restrained until what is here designated shall be done. These destroying angels were commanded to suspend the work of destruction until the servants of God could be rendered secure. The division here, as in Revelation 7:1, of the “earth, the sea, and the trees,” seems to include everything - water, land, and the productions of the earth. Nothing was to be injured until the angel should designate the true servants of God.

Till we have sealed the servants of our God - The use of the plural “we” seems to denote that he did not expect to do it alone. Who were to be associated with him, whether angels or human beings, he does not intimate; but the work was evidently such that it demanded the agency of more than one.

In their foreheads - See the notes on Revelation 7:2; compare Ezekiel 9:4-5. A mark thus placed on the forehead would be conspicuous, and would be something which could at once be recognized if destruction should spread over the world. The fulfillment of this is to be found in two things:

(a)In something which would be conspicuous or prominent - so that it could be seen; and,

(b)In the mark being of such a nature or character that it would be a proper designation of the fact that they were the true servants of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 7:3. Till we have sealed the servants of our God — There is manifestly an allusion to Ezekiel 9:4 here. By sealing we are to understand consecrating the persons in a more especial manner to God, and showing, by this mark of God upon them, that they were under his more immediate protection, and that nothing should hurt them. It was a custom in the east, and indeed in the west too, to stamp with a hot iron the name of the owner upon the forehead or shoulder of his slave.

It is worthy of remark that not one Christian perished in the siege of Jerusalem; all had left the city, and escaped to Pella. This I have often had occasion to notice.