Devine Scripture

Revelation 5:4

What does Revelation 5:4 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 5:4 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 5:4 means

John breaks into deep weeping because the sealed scroll means God’s purposes remain unopened and history’s wounds unhealed. His tears reflect more than curiosity; they express the ache for justice, redemption, and consummation. Without someone worthy, the churches remain under pressure without promised vindication, and creation’s story lacks resolution. John’s grief is pastorally important: it shows the right response to a world where sin, suffering, and death persist. The apostle longs for God’s plan to move forward. His sorrow becomes the setting in which God’s comfort arrives, revealing that hope does not rise from within creation, but comes from the One God provides.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look thereon:

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look thereon:

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And I was very sad, because there was no one able to get the book open or to see what was in it.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

And I was weeping much, because no one was found worthy to open and to read the scroll, nor to behold it,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the book, nor to see it.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And I wept much because no one had been found worthy to open the book nor to regard it.

Context

The universal inability in the previous verse now lands personally on John. His weeping heightens the dramatic tension and underlines the stakes. If no one can open the scroll, Revelation’s vision would stall before it begins. The next verse will bring a word of comfort from one of the elders, turning lament into hope. This pivot is crucial: it transforms the scene from despair at creation’s limits to joy in the Messiah’s victory, preparing John to see the unexpected form of the worthy One.

v.3And no one in the heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon.

v.4This passage

v.5and one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof.

Cross references

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

  • Daniel 12:8

    And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my lord, what shall be the issue of these things?

  • Revelation 4:1

    After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voiceas of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter.

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