Revelation 6 · Verse 17

Revelation 6:17

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Revelation 6:17, King James Version

Revelation 6:17 in other translations

BSBFor the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
WEBfor the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
ASVfor the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?
YLTbecause come did the great day of His anger, and who is able to stand?
DARBYbecause the great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand?
BBEFor the great day of their wrath is come, and who may keep his place?
WebsterFor the great day of his wrath is come; and who will be able to stand?

What does Revelation 6:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. Literally, "the day, the great (day)," which can only mean the last great day. After the Lord has exhausted all His ordinary judgments, the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, and still sinners are impenitent, the great day of the Lord itself' shall come. Mt 24:6-29 plainly forms a perfect parallelism to the six seals, not only in the events, but also in the order of their occurrence: Mt 24:3, the first seal; Mt 24:6, the second seal; Mt 24:7, the third seal; Mt 24:7, end, the fourth seal; Mt 24:9, the fifth seal, the persecutions and abounding iniquity under which, as well as consequent judgments accompanied with gospel preaching to all nations as a witness, are particularly detailed, Mt 24:9-28; Mt 24:29, the sixth seal. to stand--to stand justified, and not condemned before the Judge. Thus the sixth seal brings us to the verge of the Lord's coming. The ungodly "tribes of the earth" tremble at the signs of His immediate approach. But before He actually inflicts the blow in person, "the elect" must be "gathered "out.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 17. For the great day of his wrath is come. The threatening judgments would be so severe and awful that they would suppose that the end of the world was coming.

And who shall be able to stand? To stand before him, or to withstand his judgments.

(e) "the great day" Rev 16:14, Isa 13:6, Zeph 1:14 (f) "who shall" Ps 76:7

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 For the great day of his wrath - The decisive and manifest time in which he will execute judgment on the oppressors of his people. Who shall be able to stand? - No might can prevail against the might of God. All these things may literally apply to the final destruction of Jerusalem, and to the revolution which took place in the Roman empire under Constantine the Great. Some apply them to the day of judgment; but they do not seem to have that awful event in view. These two events were the greatest that have ever taken place in the world, from the flood to the eighteenth century of the Christian era; and may well justify the strong figurative language used above. Through I do not pretend to say that my remarks on this chapter point out its true signification, yet I find others have applied it in the same way. Dr. Dodd observes that the fall of Babylon, Idumea, Judah, Egypt, and Jerusalem, has been described by the prophets in language equally pompous, figurative, and strong. See Isa 13:10; Isa 34:4, concerning Babylon and Idumea; Jer 4:23, Jer 4:24, concerning Judah; Eze 32:7, concerning Egypt; Joe 2:10, Joe 2:31, concerning Jerusalem; and our Lord himself, Mat 24:29, concerning the same city. "Now," says he, "it is certain that the fall of any of these cities or kingdoms was not of greater concern or consequence to the world, nor more deserving to be described in pompous figures, than the fall of the pagan Roman empire, when the great lights of the heathen world, the sun, moon, and stars, the powers civil and ecclesiastical, were all eclipsed and obscured, the heathen emperors and Caesars were slain, the heathen priests and augurs were extirpated, the heathen officers and magistrates were removed, the temples were demolished, and their revenues were devoted to better uses. It is customary with the prophets, after they have described a thing in the most symbolical and figurative manner, to represent the same again in plainer language; and the same method is observed here, Rev 6:15-17 : And the kings of the earth, etc. That is, Maximin, Galerius, Maxentius, Licinius, etc., with all their adherents and followers, were so routed and dispersed that they hid themselves in dens, etc.; expressions used to denote the utmost terror and confusion. This is, therefore, a triumph of Christ over his heathen enemies, and a triumph after a severe persecution; so that the time and all the circumstances, as well as the series and order of the prophecy, agree perfectly with this interpretation. Galerius, Maximin, and Licinius, made even a public confession of their guilt, recalled their decrees and edicts against the Christians, and acknowledged the just judgments of God and of Christ in their own destruction." See Newton, Lowman, etc., and Dr. Dodd on this chapter, with the works of several more recent authors.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Revelation 6:12-17

When the sixth seal was opened, there was a great earthquake. The foundations of churches and states would be terribly shaken. Such bold figurative descriptions of great changes abound in the prophecies of Scripture; for these events are emblems, and declare the end of the world and the day of judgment. Dread and terror would seize on all sorts of men. Neither grandeur, riches, valour, nor strength, can support men…

Read the full comment on Revelation 6:12-17 →

Revelation 6:17 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
ἦλθενēlthenhas comeG2064
ἡhētheG3588
ἡμέραhēmeradayG2250
ἡhē<the>G3588
μεγάληmegalēgreatG3173
τῆςtēsof theG3588
ὀργῆςorgēswrathG3709
αὐτῶν,autōnof them,G846
καὶkaiandG2532
τίςtiswhoG5101
δύναταιdunataiis ableG1410
σταθῆναι;¶stathēnaito stand?G2476

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Revelation 6:17

  • Malachi 3:2

    But 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:

  • Psalms 76:7

    Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

  • Joel 2:11

    And 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?

  • Joel 2:31

    The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

  • Jeremiah 30:7

    Alas! 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.

  • Revelation 16:14

    For 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.

  • Zephaniah 1:14-18

    The 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. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. …

  • Isaiah 13:6-22

    Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. …

  • Romans 2:5

    But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

  • Psalms 130:3-4

    If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

  • Jude 1:6

    And 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.

  • Revelation 11:18

    And 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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the great.
11:18; 16:14; Isa 13:6-22; Jer 30:7; Joe 2:31; Zep 1:14-18; Ro 2:5
Jude 1:6
who.
Ps 76:7; 130:3,4; Joe 2:11; Mal 3:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Revelation 6:16

    And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

  • Revelation 6:17

    For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Read all of Revelation 6

Revelation 6:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque el gran día de su ira es venido; ¿y quién podrá estar firme?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		car le grand jour de sa colère est venu, et qui peut subsister?
German
Elberfelder 1871		denn gekommen ist der große Tag seines Zornes, und wer vermag zu bestehen?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		quoniam venit dies magnus iræ ipsorum: et quis poterit stare?