Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Rev C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22
Rev 1 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V18 V19 V20
OET (OET-LV) And when I_saw him, I_fell at the feet of_him, as_though dead.
And he_put the right hand of_him on me saying:
Not be_fearing, I am the first and the last,
OET (OET-RV) And when I saw him, I quickly lay at his feet, breathless like a dead man, but he placed his right hand on me, and told me, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last.
In this section, John told the seven churches that he was exiled on the island of Patmos because he had preached about Jesus. The people in the seven churches had also suffered for the sake of Jesus. So John indicated that they all shared in that suffering. He explained where he was and why he was there. He then began to tell his vision of Jesus and what Jesus revealed to him.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
Preliminary vision (NJB)
John told/described his first vision
Introduction to what God revealed to John
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.
¶ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though I had died.
¶ Immediately after seeing him, I collapsed at his feet like a dead man.
When I saw Him: The pronoun Him refers to Jesus here. Other ways to translate this clause are:
Seeing him standing there
Immediately upon seeing him
I fell at His feet like a dead man: This clause indicates that John fell immediately, like a person would fall if he died suddenly. He was overwhelmed by what he saw. Other ways to translate this clause are:
I fell at his feet as if I were dead (NLT)
I fell at his feet as though I were dead (REB)
But He placed His right hand on me and said,
But he put his right hand on me and said,
But he laid his right hand on me and said,
But: The Greek conjunction here is usually translated “and” (as in the NASB). But there is some contrast between John throwing himself down and Jesus having compassion. The BSB therefore translates this as: But.
You should connect 1:17a–b in the way that is most natural in your language.
He placed His right hand on me: This action shows compassion and reassures John. Other ways to translate this clause are:
he laid his right hand upon me (RSV)
he put his right hand on me (CEV)
“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
“Do not be afraid! I am the First and Last,
“Do not be afraid! It is I, who was the First Being and Last Being.
I am the First and the Last: The title the First and the Last indicates that Jesus existed before all things and will exist after everything in this world ends. This title implies that he is therefore greater than anything and has authority over everything. This title is similar in meaning to the title “the Alpha and the Omega” (1:8a).
In some languages a literal translation would not have that meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
Translate literally and explain its meaning in a footnote. For example:
The title “the First and the Last” indicates that Jesus existed before history began and will exist after it ends. He is therefore in authority over human history.
Explain the title in your translation. For example:
I am the First and the Last existing eternally
I am the One who is from the very beginning until the very end of time/history
Translate this title in a different way from the title “the Alpha and the Omega,” because both titles appear in 22:13.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν ἔπεσα πρός τούς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὡς νεκρός Καί ἔθηκεν τήν δεξιάν αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ ἐμέ λέγων Μή φοβοῦ ἐγώ εἰμί ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος)
This expression means that John fell to the ground in front of this person. It does not mean that he landed right on his feet. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [onto the ground in front of him]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / simile
ὡς νεκρός
as_though dead
The point of this comparison is that just as a dead man is lifeless, John was so overcome by fear that he did not even have the energy to keep standing up. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make this point explicitly. Alternate translation: [because I was so overcome by fear that I lost all my energy and became like a lifeless dead man]
Note 3 topic: translate-symaction
ἔθηκεν τὴν δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ ἐπ’ ἐμὲ
˱he˲_put (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν ἔπεσα πρός τούς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὡς νεκρός Καί ἔθηκεν τήν δεξιάν αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ ἐμέ λέγων Μή φοβοῦ ἐγώ εἰμί ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος)
Jesus placed his right hand on John as a symbolic action to express comfort and assurance to him because he needed encouragement in this moment of fear. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could explain the significance of this action. Alternate translation: [he placed his right hand encouragingly on me]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / doublenegatives
μὴ φοβοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν ἔπεσα πρός τούς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὡς νεκρός Καί ἔθηκεν τήν δεξιάν αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ ἐμέ λέγων Μή φοβοῦ ἐγώ εἰμί ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος)
If it would be clearer in your language, you could use a positive expression to translate this double negative that consists of the negative particle not and the negative verb be afraid. Alternate translation: [Take courage]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / merism
ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος
the first the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν ἔπεσα πρός τούς πόδας αὐτοῦ ὡς νεκρός Καί ἔθηκεν τήν δεξιάν αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ ἐμέ λέγων Μή φοβοῦ ἐγώ εἰμί ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος)
This expression has the same meaning as “the alpha and the omega” in [1:8](../01/08.md). See how you translated that expression there. Alternate translation: [the one who was at the beginning of all things and who will be at the end of all things] or [the one who created everything and who will bring all things to an end] or [the one who has always existed]
1:17 When I saw him, I fell . . . dead: Terror and a dead faint, if not death itself (see Exod 33:20), frequently result when someone sees God (see Isa 6:1-5; Matt 28:4). The Lord graciously responds by the touch of his right hand (cp. Matt 25:34) and the words “Don’t be afraid!” (cp. Luke 1:13), indicating both grace and acceptance.
• I am: The phrase identifies Jesus as God (see study note on Rev 1:8).
OET (OET-LV) And when I_saw him, I_fell at the feet of_him, as_though dead.
And he_put the right hand of_him on me saying:
Not be_fearing, I am the first and the last,
OET (OET-RV) And when I saw him, I quickly lay at his feet, breathless like a dead man, but he placed his right hand on me, and told me, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.