Devine Scripture

Revelation 11:9

What does Revelation 11:9 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 11:9 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 11:9 means

People from many nations stare at the bodies for three and a half days and refuse them burial. The international gaze underscores how public and comprehensive the rejection is. Denying burial intensifies dishonor, as if to erase their dignity and proclaim permanent victory over their message. The short span of three and a half days—an echo of the larger three and a half years—signals that God has set a brief limit even on disgrace. The world believes the story is over; God has merely paused it. The verse highlights human pride at its peak, just before God overturns the verdict with a display of life that no onlooker can deny.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations do men look upon their dead bodies three days and a half, and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations do men look upon their dead bodies three days and a half, and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will be looking on their dead bodies three days and a half, and will not let their dead bodies be put in the earth.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and they shall behold--they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations--their dead bodies three days and a half, and their dead bodies they shall not suffer to be put into tombs,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And they of the tribes and peoples and tongues and nations shall see their bodies for three days and a half: and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchres.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And [men] of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their body three days and a half, and they do not suffer their bodies to be put into a sepulchre.

Context

The narrative lingers on the humiliation of the witnesses, expanding from the city to the global audience. This builds a mood of finality in the minds of the earth-dwellers, preparing for the celebratory response in the next verse. The carefully noted time frame tightens suspense before a decisive intervention. The following verses will swing from worldwide partying to sudden terror as God breathes life into the witnesses, then calls them heavenward, immediately followed by a severe earthquake that shakes the city and sobers the survivors.

v.8And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

v.9This passage

v.10And they that dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and make merry; and they shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Revelation 17:15

    And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

  • Revelation 10:11

    And they say unto me, Thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.

  • Jeremiah 7:33

    And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.

  • Ecclesiastes 6:3

    If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:

  • Revelation 11:11

    And after the three days and a half the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that beheld them.

  • Matthew 7:2

    For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you.

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