Revelation 11:5

If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — John records a divine declaration concerning the two witnesses during their prophetic ministry. The statement explains the mechanism of their supernatural protection against opposition.

The words — πῦρ (pyr) and ἐκπορεύεται (ekporeuetai) translate to "fire" and "goes out," describing the literal mechanism of defense. The text states that fire exits their mouths to consume attackers, rather than implying a metaphorical judgment.

The thread — The imagery connects to Jeremiah 5:14, where God’s words become fire, and 2 Kings 1:10, where fire descends to consume enemies. Hosea 6:5 parallels the sudden execution of divine judgments, though it specifies they proceed like lightning.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine protection operates through direct, lethal intervention rather than human negotiation. It asks the reader to acknowledge the absolute authority granted to the witnesses without reducing the phenomenon to mere symbolism.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 5:14 Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.
2 Kings 1:10 Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
Hosea 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth, and My judgments go forth like lightning.
Numbers 16:28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things, for it was not my own doing:
Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
Psalms 18:8 Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; glowing coals blazed forth.
Jeremiah 1:10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
Zechariah 2:8 For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—
Zechariah 1:6 But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
Ezekiel 43:3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,