After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
Parallel translations
- WEB After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
- KJV After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
- NKJV After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
- NASB After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;
- NLT After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.
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
John then sees a countless multitude from every nation, robed in white with palm branches, before the throne and the Lamb. The redeemed are an innumerable, international people gathered in triumph and worship.
Overview
This vast crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue fulfills God's promise to Abraham and the song of 5:9. White robes signify purity and victory through the Lamb, and palm branches recall festal joy and triumph. Many see this multitude as the same redeemed people as the 144,000, now viewed in their full, glorified number gathered safely before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 37
- Rev 5:9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- John 12:13They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
- Ps 117:1–2Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples!
- Rev 7:13–15Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”
- Ps 2:8Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.
- Rev 6:11Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.
- Zech 2:11“On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.
- Isa 60:1–14Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
- Rev 3:4–5But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white.
- Jer 3:17At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
- Rev 3:18I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
- Ps 72:7–11May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound, until the moon is no more.
- Isa 49:6–8He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
- Rom 11:25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
- Lev 23:40On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
- Rev 11:15Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”
- Ps 110:2–3The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
- 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.”
- Isa 2:2–3In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
- Luke 12:1In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- Rom 15:9–12so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”
- Ps 98:3He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
- Heb 12:22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
- Rev 4:4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.
- Hos 1:10Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
- Zech 8:20–23This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Peoples will yet come—the residents of many cities—
- Eph 6:13Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.
- Dan 6:25Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound.
- Heb 11:12And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- Gen 13:16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
- Rev 5:11Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels and living creatures and elders encircling the throne, and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.
- Dan 4:1King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.
- Gen 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
- Ps 77:2In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Jer 16:19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.
- Ps 76:4You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains filled with game.
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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 7:9 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
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