Revelation 9:20

20 And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, {in order not to worship} the demons and the gold and silver and bronze and stone and wooden idols, which are able neither to see nor to hear nor to walk,

Revelation 9:20 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 9:20

And the rest of men which were not killed by these plagues,
&c.] By whom are meant the western antichristian party; and such of them as were not plagued, harassed, and destroyed by the Turks, as in Germany, at least some parts of it, France, Spain, Italy

yet repented not of the works of their hands:
their idols, their images of saints departed, which their hands had made; the goodness of God in saving them from the depredations of the Turks, should have led them to repentance for their idolatrous worship of images, but it did not:

that they should not worship devils;
or demons, a sort of deities with the Heathens, that mediated between the superior gods and men; and here design angels and saints departed, which the Papists worship, and use as mediators of intercession for them; and this is no other than worshipping of devils, in God's account, and is downright idolatry, and the doctrine of it is the doctrine of devils:

and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood;
which are the several materials of which the Popish images are made: and what aggravates the stupidity of the worshippers of these images, and of the persons represented by them, is, that these are such

which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk;
can neither see their persons, nor hear their prayers, nor stir one foot to their help and assistance; see ( Psalms 115:4-7 ) .

Revelation 9:20 In-Context

18 By these three plagues a third of humanity was killed--by the fire and the smoke and the sulphur that came out of their mouths.
19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails [are] similar in appearance to snakes, having heads, and with them they cause injury.
20 And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, {in order not to worship} the demons and the gold and silver and bronze and stone and wooden idols, which are able neither to see nor to hear nor to walk,
21 and they did not repent of their murders or of their magic spells or of their sexual immorality or of their thefts.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "so that they did not worship"
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