For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Parallel translations
- WEB for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
- BSB For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
- 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 may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
- Joel 2:11And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
- Ps 76:7Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
- Joel 2:31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
- Jer 30:7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
- Rev 16:14For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
- Zeph 1:14–18The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
- Isa 13:6–22Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
- Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- Ps 130:3–4If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
- Luke 21:36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
- Rev 11:18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
- Jude 1:6And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.