For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
Parallel translations
- WEB for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
- KJV For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
- NKJV For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
- NASB for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
- NLT For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”
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
They confess that the great day of God's wrath has come and ask who can stand. The verse poses the book's urgent question about who will survive judgment.
Overview
The 'great day of wrath' is the long-foretold day of the Lord, now arriving. The despairing question 'who is able to stand?' exposes humanity's helplessness before God's holiness. Chapter 7 answers it: only those sealed and redeemed by the Lamb can stand, which directs the reader to the gospel for hope.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Mal 3:2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- Joel 2:11The LORD raises His voice in the presence of His army. Indeed, His camp is very large, for mighty are those who obey His command. For the Day of the LORD is great and very dreadful. Who can endure it?
- Ps 76:7You alone are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?
- Joel 2:31The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Jer 30:7How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.
- Rev 16:14These are demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the earth, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
- Zeph 1:14–18The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter.
- Isa 13:6–22Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Rom 2:5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Ps 130:3–4If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
- Luke 21:36So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Rev 11:18The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your name, both small and great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
- Jude 1:6And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 6:17 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.