Year of the Bible
Revelation 10
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Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Chapter 10:
Just as there was a pause before the seventh seal (chapter 7), there is a pause in action before the seventh trumpet. Another angel appears, speaking as a lion and in thunder, common descriptions of God’s voice in the Jewish Scriptures. This angel gives John more visions but does not allow John to write them, suggesting that some things of God are not for humans to know. The angel describes God as the one who created everything, reminding us that, although we are in the midst of destruction, God’s purpose is ultimately for life. The angel explains that with the seventh trumpet, God’s mystery will be fulfilled as the prophets have announced. The word translated announced could also be gospel, suggesting Jesus, the Messiah the prophets promised, will be ascending His Throne. This angel also carries a small scroll that John must eat. These words of God taste sweet yet make his stomach bitter. This may symbolize our own experience of the joy of the Truth we find in God’s words, but the pain these words bring when people do not repent, just as we have seen through the previous trumpets.
The Book of Revelation, Chapter 10:
The Angel with the Little Scroll
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring; when he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on sea and land lifted up his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there should be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God, as he announced to his servants the prophets, should be fulfilled.
8 Then the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
Biblical scholars have suggested that when John is commanded to eat the scroll and told that it will be sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach (v.10), that it is sweet because it contains the Word of God, but bitter because it also contains God's judgement. Why would God's Word be considered sweet to the taste? How does that resonate with me personally? Why would God's judgement be considered bitter to the stomach? How does that resonate with me personally?
Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc, or online.
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further.
1 Y vi a otro ángel poderoso descender
del cielo, envuelto en una nube,
con el arco iris sobre su cabeza. Su rostro
era como el sol, y sus pies como columnas
de fuego.
2 En la mano tenía un pequeño libro
abierto. Puso el pie derecho sobre el
mar y el izquierdo sobre la tierra 3 y gritó
con voz fuerte, como el rugido del león.
Cuando gritó, los siete truenos hicieron
oír sus propias voces.
4 Al hablar los siete truenos, me disponía
a escribir. Pero oí una voz del cielo
que decía:
–Sella lo que han dicho los siete
truenos, no lo escribas.
5 Y el ángel que vi de pie sobre el mar
y sobre la tierra levantó la mano derecha
hacia el cielo 6 y juró por el que vive
por los siglos de los siglos, el que creó
el cielo y cuanto hay en él, la tierra y
cuanto hay en ella, y el mar y cuanto
hay en él:
–Ya no habrá más tiempo, 7 sino que
en los días en que se oiga la voz del séptimo
ángel, cuando empiece a tocar la
trompeta, se consumará el misterio de
Dios, tal y como se lo anunció a sus siervos,
los profetas.
8 Entonces la voz que había oído del
cielo me habló de nuevo:
–Ve y toma el libro abierto de la
mano del ángel que está de pie sobre el
mar y sobre la tierra.
9 Me acerqué al ángel y le dije que me
diera el pequeño libro. Él me contestó:
–Toma y devóralo, te amargará las
entrañas, pero en tu boca será dulce
como la miel.
10 Tomé el pequeño libro de la mano
del ángel y lo devoré. En mi boca fue
dulce como la miel, pero cuando lo
comí se me amargaron las entrañas.
11 Entonces me dijeron:
–Es necesario que profetices de nuevo
contra muchos pueblos, naciones,
lenguas y reyes.
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
Los eruditos bíblicos han sugerido que cuando a Juan se le ordena comer el rollo y se le dice que será dulce en su boca pero amargo en su estómago (v.10), que es dulce porque contiene la Palabra de Dios, pero amargo porque también contiene el juicio de Dios. ¿Por qué la Palabra de Dios sería considerada dulce al paladar? ¿Cómo me hace sentir esto a mí? ¿Por qué el juicio de Dios se considera amargo para el estómago? ¿Cómo esto se refleja en mi?
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).