Wahyu 3:8

3:8 ‘I know your deeds. (Look! I have put ¹  in front of you an open door that no one can shut.) ²  I know ³  that you have little strength, ⁴  but ⁵  you have obeyed ⁶  my word and have not denied my name.

Wahyu 6:4

6:4 And another horse, fiery red, ⁷  came out, and the one who rode it ⁸  was granted permission ⁹  to take peace from the earth, so that people would butcher ¹⁰  one another, and he was given a huge sword.

[3:8]  ¹ tn Grk “I have given.”

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “to shut it,” but English would leave the direct object understood in this case.

[3:8]  sn The entire statement is parenthetical, interrupting the construction found in other letters to the churches in 3:1 and 3:15, “I know your deeds, that…” where an enumeration of the deeds follows.

[3:8]  ³ tn This translation is based on connecting the ὅτι (Joti) clause with the οἶδα (oida) at the beginning of the verse, giving the content of what is known (see also 3:1, 3:15 for parallels). Because of the intervening clause that is virtually parenthetical (see the note on the word “shut” earlier in this verse), the words “I know that” from the beginning of the verse had to be repeated to make this connection clear for the English reader. However, the ὅτι could be understood as introducing a causal subordinate clause instead and thus translated, “because you have.”

[3:8]  ⁴ tn Or “little power.”

[3:8]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:8]  ⁶ tn Grk “and having kept.” The participle ἐτήρησας (ethrhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. For the translation of τηρέω (threw) as “obey” see L&N 36.19. This is the same word that is used in 3:10 (there translated “kept”) where there is a play on words.

[6:4]  ⁷ tn L&N 79.31 states, “‘fiery red’ (probably with a tinge of yellow or orange).”

[6:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “the one sitting on it.”

[6:4]  ⁹ tn The word “permission” is implied; Grk “it was given to him to take peace from the earth.”

[6:4]  ¹⁰ tn BDAG 979 s.v. σφάζω states, “Of the killing of a person by violence…σφάζειν τινά butcher or murder someone (4 Km 10:7; Jer 52:10; Manetho: 609 fgm. 8, 76 Jac. [in Jos., C. Ap. 1, 76]; Demetr.[?]: 722 fgm. 7; Ar. 10, 9) 1J 3:12; Rv 6:4. Pass. (Hdt. 5, 5) 5:9; 6:9; 18:24.”