Revelation 11:5
What does Revelation 11:5 mean?
A plain-English look at Revelation 11:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Revelation 11:5 means
If anyone attacks the witnesses, fire proceeds from their mouth and consumes their enemies. The point is not spectacle but divine protection: God defends His messengers until their mission is complete. The fire symbolizes the power of their prophetic word—judgment issuing from proclamation, as in earlier prophetic narratives where those who opposed God’s servants faced fiery consequences. The phrase that assailants “must be killed in this way” underscores inevitability: hostility to God’s testimony rebounds upon the aggressor. The witnesses are not aggressors; they are guarded heralds. Their safety is not absolute in all things, but it is certain while God’s assignment remains, illustrating both courage for the faithful and limits for the wicked.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And if any man desireth to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And if any man would do them damage, fire comes out of their mouth and puts an end to those who are working against them: and if any man has a desire to do them damage, in this way will he be put to death.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and if any one may will to injure them, fire doth proceed out of their mouth, and doth devour their enemies, and if any one may will to injure them, thus it behoveth him to be killed.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And if any man will hurt them, fire shall come out of their mouths and shall devour their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and if any one wills to injure them, fire goes out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. And if any one wills to injure them, thus must he be killed.
Context
After revealing who the witnesses are symbolically, the text explains the protective authority attached to their mission. This verse begins a catalog of powers demonstrating that their ministry cannot be silenced by violence until God allows it. The next verse expands on their capacity to inflict covenant-like judgments through prayer and decree. Together these elements heighten tension: the world will try to silence them, but their God-given mandate prevails—until, at a divinely appointed moment detailed afterwards, the beast is permitted to overcome them.
v.4These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the Lord of the earth.
v.5This passage
v.6These have the power to shut the heaven, that it rain not during the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they shall desire.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 9:4
and he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
- Jeremiah 1:10
see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
- Psalms 18:8
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it.
- Hosea 6:5
Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
- Numbers 16:28
And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that Jehovah hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
- Zechariah 1:6
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
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