Revelation 6:14

14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Revelation 6:14 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
English Standard Version (ESV)
14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
New Living Translation (NLT)
14 The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.
The Message Bible (MSG)
14 sky snapped shut like a book, islands and mountains sliding this way and that.
American Standard Version (ASV)
14 And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
14 The sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved from its place.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
14 the sky separated like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
14 The sky rolled back like a scroll. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

Revelation 6:14 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 6:14

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together
The manner of writing formerly was on rolls of parchment; hence the word volume is used for a book, which, when rolled up, the writing within could not be seen, not a syllable nor letter of it. In like manner the Roman empire, as Pagan, which was like a large sheet, or rather like the expanse or firmament of the heaven, stretched out over all the earth, was now, as to the Paganism of it, rolled up together, so that there were no more Heathen gods, nor Heathen priests; no more idolatry, and idolatrous worship of that kind were to be seen, and not so much as the names of Heathen gods to be heard of in the empire.

And every mountain and island were moved out of their places;
by "every mountain" may be meant the places of idolatrous worship, which were usually upon mountains; see ( Jeremiah 3:6 Jeremiah 3:23 ) ; which were now shut up, or demolished, or used for Christian worship; and "every island" being moved also may show, that Paganism was not only rooted out of the provinces of the empire upon the continent, but out of the islands also; and the ecclesiastical history of these times informs us, that there were Christian churches in the isles, which enjoyed the Gospel free of persecution and distress; as in the isles of Cyprus, Crete, the Cyclades, Sardinia, Siciiy, Corsica, and in ours of England, Scotland, and Ireland F15. Mr. Daubuz thinks, that as "mountains" design the temples of idols, "islands" signify the revenues of them, which were now taken away, and applied to other uses.


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Centuriator. Magdeburg. Cent. 4. c. 2. p. 5, 8.

Revelation 6:14 In-Context

12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

Cross References 2

  • 1. S 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1
  • 2. Psalms 46:2; Isaiah 54:10; Jeremiah 4:24; Ezekiel 38:20; Nahum 1:5; Revelation 16:20; Revelation 21:1
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