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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 4

1 After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: “Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things.” 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it!⁠ 3 And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne. 4 In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders.⁠ They were dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder.⁠ Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne, 6 and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.⁠ 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying.⁠ 8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. They never rest day or night,⁠ saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was, and who is, and who is still to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns before his throne, saying: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Apocalypse of Abraham 18:6 and Revelation 4:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

In the Apocalypse of Abraham, each of the six-winged living creatures around God’s throne has the same four faces. In Revelation, the six-winged creatures each look different, one like a lion, one like an ox, one with a human face, and one like an eagle.

Passages

Apocalypse of Abraham 18:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
3 And as the fire rose higher and higher, I saw under the fire a throne of fire, and all-seeing beings around it, reciting the song, and under the throne four fiery living creatures singing, 4 and they all looked alike, each one of them with four faces. 5 And their faces looked like those of a lion, a man, an ox, and an eagle. Four heads [were on their bodies] [so that the four creatures had sixteen faces]; 6 and each had six wings; from their shoulders, [and their sides] and their hips. 7 And with the (two) wings from their shoulders they covered their faces, and with the (two) wings which (sprang) from their hips they covered their feet, while they spread the (two) middle wings to fly straight ahead.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

Revelation 4:8

New Testament
6 and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying. 8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. They never rest day or night, saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was, and who is, and who is still to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

“... At the same time we may notice two significant differences: 1. In the Apocalypse of Abraham the h\ayyoµt and the wheels are distinct, as they are in Ezekiel, though the Apocalypse of Abraham shares with other Jewish readings of Ezekiel the view that the wheels are animate creatures who sing the praises of God along with the h\ayyoµt. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, therefore, the many eyes belong to the wheels (18:3,12), but in Revelation they belong to the h\ayyoµt (4:6,8). 2. In the Apocalypse of Abraham each of the four h\ayyoµt has four faces and looks just like the other three. (It may be that there is some tex- tual confusion and that verse 12b originally meant that each crea- ture had four heads and each head four faces, so that each creature had sixteen faces, making a total of sixty-four faces altogether. This interpretation of Ezekiel is found in the Targum [1:6].)20 In Revel- ation, however, each creature is different: one like a lion, one like an ...”
Richard Bauckham, Living with Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011), 169.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Apocalypse of Abraham 18:6 and Revelation 4:8

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