And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
- BSB The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
- NKJV Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
- NASB The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
- NLT The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The sky rolls up like a scroll and mountains and islands are moved. The whole structure of creation is shaken at the day of God's wrath.
Overview
Drawing on Isaiah 34:4, the receding sky and displaced mountains picture the dissolving of the present order before the Judge. Nothing in heaven or on earth remains stable in that day. The imagery underscores the awesome finality of God's reckoning with the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Isa 34:4And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
- Rev 16:20And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
- 2 Pet 3:10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
- Heb 1:11–13They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
- Ps 102:26They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
- Jer 4:23–26I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
- Isa 54:10For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
- Rev 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Nah 1:5The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
- Ezek 38:20So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
- Hab 3:6He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
- Rev 21:1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
- Isa 2:14–17And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
- Jer 51:25Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
- Jer 3:23Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 6:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.