Revelation 6:10
New International Version
They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

New Living Translation
They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?”

English Standard Version
They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Berean Standard Bible
And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

Berean Literal Bible
And they were crying in a loud voice, saying, "Until when, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood from those dwelling upon the earth?"

King James Bible
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

New King James Version
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

New American Standard Bible
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”

NASB 1995
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

NASB 1977
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Legacy Standard Bible
and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Amplified Bible
They cried in a loud voice, saying, “O Lord, holy and true, how long now before You will sit in judgment and avenge our blood on those [unregenerate ones] who dwell on the earth?”

Christian Standard Bible
They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, the One who is holy and true, how long until You judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?”

American Standard Version
and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they cried with a great voice, and they were saying, “How long, LORD JEHOVAH, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood upon the inhabitants of The Earth?”

Contemporary English Version
They shouted, "Master, you are holy and faithful! How long will it be before you judge and punish the people of this earth who killed us?"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

English Revised Version
and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They cried out in a loud voice, "Holy and true Master, how long before you judge and take revenge on those living on earth who shed our blood?"

Good News Translation
They shouted in a loud voice, "Almighty Lord, holy and true! How long will it be until you judge the people on earth and punish them for killing us?"

International Standard Version
They cried out in a loud voice, "Holy and true Sovereign, how long will it be before you judge and take revenge on those living on the earth who shed our blood?"

Literal Standard Version
and they were crying with a great voice, saying, “Until when, O Master, the Holy and the True, do You not judge and take vengeance of our blood from those dwelling on the earth?”

Majority Standard Bible
And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

New American Bible
They cried out in a loud voice, “How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”

NET Bible
They cried out with a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?"

New Revised Standard Version
they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”

New Heart English Bible
They called out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

Webster's Bible Translation
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Weymouth New Testament
And now in loud voices they cried out, saying, "How long, O Sovereign Lord, the holy One and the true, dost Thou delay judgment and the taking of vengeance upon the inhabitants of the earth for our blood?"

World English Bible
They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Young's Literal Translation
and they were crying with a great voice, saying, 'Till when, O Master, the Holy and the True, dost Thou not judge and take vengeance of our blood from those dwelling upon the land?'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Fifth Seal: The Martyrs
9And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?” 11Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.…

Cross References
Genesis 4:10
"What have you done?" replied the LORD. "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.

Deuteronomy 32:43
Rejoice, O heavens, with Him, and let all God's angels worship Him. Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him; He will cleanse His land and His people.

Psalm 79:10
Why should the nations ask, "Where is their God?" Before our eyes, make known among the nations Your vengeance for the bloodshed of Your servants.

Psalm 119:84
How many days must Your servant wait? When will You execute judgment on my persecutors?

Daniel 8:13
Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, "How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?"

Zechariah 1:12
Then the angel of the LORD said, "How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?"

Luke 2:29
"Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You now dismiss Your servant in peace.


Treasury of Scripture

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

they cried.

Genesis 4:10
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Psalm 9:12
When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

Luke 18:7,8
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? …

How.

Psalm 13:1
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

Psalm 35:17
Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

Psalm 74:9,10
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long…

holy.

Revelation 3:7
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

Revelation 15:3,4
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints…

dost.

Revelation 11:18
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Revelation 16:5-7
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus…

Revelation 18:20,24
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her…

avenge.

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Revelation 6
1. The First Seal: Rider on White Horse
3. The Second Seal: War
5. The Third Seal: Famine
7. The Fourth Seal: Death
9. The Fifth Seal: Martyrs
12. The Sixth Seal: Terror














(10) How long . . .?--Better. Until when. O Master (the word is the correlative of "servant," see Revelation 6:10) the Holy and True, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood from (on) those who dwell on the earth? By a dramatic figure the persecuted and slain ones are represented as crying for retribution on their oppressors. It is not the Christians themselves (Luke 23:34; and Acts 7:60) who cry for vengeance, any more than it was Abel himself who cried from the ground to God: it was the blood of Abel (Genesis 4:10), the earth disclosed her blood, and refused to cover her slain. The forgotten or ignored wrongs of generations come forth from oblivion and cry for vengeance. It is a poetical description, but it is not fiction. The righteous blood shed does fall upon the world in retribution: the laws of God avenge themselves, though the victims do not live to behold the reward of the ungodly. On the epithets Holy and True, see Notes on Revelation 3:7.

Verse 10. - And they cried with a loud voice, saying; i.e. the souls cried. Ebrard, Dusterdieck, Hengstenberg, make "the slain" nominative, in contradistinction to the "souls," which is both unnecessary and unnatural. Zullig compares Genesis 4:10, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." How long? (comp. Zechariah 1:12, 13, "How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem? And the Lord answered with good words and comfortable words"). No doubt the souls waiting in Paradise are answered by "comfortable words," yet, not having lost their interest in earthly struggles, nor their longing for the triumphant vindication of God's glory, they cry, "How long?," not as needing the time to be shortened for their own sakes, for they rest, though not yet entered into the fulness of God's glory. O Lord, holy and true; O Master, the holy and true (Revised Version). "Master" (δεσπότης) is the correlative of "servant" (δοῦλος). This is the only instance of its occurrence in the Apocalypse. (On "true," see previous passages.) Deal thou not judge and avenge our blood. The cry is not a petition for personal revenge, but a request for the termination of those ills which for a time afflict man, and the termination of which must, by virtue of God's eternal justice, be accompanied by visible retribution on the wicked. (Cf. Bede, "Those souls which offered themselves a living sacrifice to God pray eternally for his coming to judgment, not from any vindictive feeling against their enemies, but in a spirit of zeal and love for God's glory and justice, mid for the coming of that day when sin, which is rebellion against him, will be destroyed, and their own bodies will be raised. And so in that prayer wherein Christ teaches us to forgive our enemies, we are also taught to say, 'Thy kingdom come.'") The passage has given rise to varying interpretations, which are thought to be more consonant with the spirit of the gospel. Thus I. Williams would understand the souls to represent only the Old Testament saints, especially as it is not explicitly said that they died for the witness of Jesus, as in Revelation 20:4. On them that dwell on the earth. That is, on the worldly, those who have taken the side of the world in its conflict with Christianity.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
And
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

they cried out
ἔκραξαν (ekraxan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2896: To cry aloud, shriek. A primary verb; properly, to 'croak' or scream, i.e. to call aloud.

in a loud voice,
φωνῇ (phōnē)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5456: Probably akin to phaino through the idea of disclosure; a tone; by implication, an address, saying or language.

“How long,
πότε (pote)
Conjunction
Strong's 4219: When, at what time. From the base of pou and te; interrogative adverb, at what time.

O
(ho)
Article - Vocative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Lord,
Δεσπότης (Despotēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1203: A lord, master, or prince. Perhaps from deo and posis; an absolute ruler.

holy
ἅγιος (hagios)
Adjective - Vocative Masculine Singular
Strong's 40: Set apart by (or for) God, holy, sacred. From hagos; sacred.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

true,
ἀληθινός (alēthinos)
Adjective - Vocative Masculine Singular
Strong's 228: True (lit: made of truth), real, genuine. From alethes; truthful.

until
Ἕως (Heōs)
Preposition
Strong's 2193: A conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until.

You judge
κρίνεις (krineis)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 2919: Properly, to distinguish, i.e. Decide; by implication, to try, condemn, punish.

those who
τῶν (tōn)
Article - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

live
κατοικούντων (katoikountōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 2730: To dwell in, settle in, be established in (permanently), inhabit. From kata and oikeo; to house permanently, i.e. Reside.

on
ἐπὶ (epi)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

the
τῆς (tēs)
Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

earth
γῆς (gēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1093: Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

avenge
ἐκδικεῖς (ekdikeis)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 1556: To give justice over, defend, avenge, vindicate. From ekdikos; to vindicate, retaliate, punish.

our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

blood?”
αἷμα (haima)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 129: Blood, literally, figuratively or specially; by implication, bloodshed, also kindred.


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NT Prophecy: Revelation 6:10 They cried with a loud voice saying (Rev. Re Apocalypse)
Revelation 6:9
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