Bible Strands

Revelation 7:9

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — John writes to the seven churches; at this moment he has just seen the 144,000 sealed by tribe (7:4–8) and now looks up to see what stands before the throne.

The words — ὄχλος (ochlos) is the common word for "crowd" or "mob" in the Gospels, not a select or elite group. The BSB renders πολὺς (polus) as "too large to count," but the Greek simply says "great," leaving the uncountability to the reader's inference rather than the text's claim.

The thread — Palm branches appear in John 12:13, where the crowd meets Jesus at the triumphal entry; "all you nations" in Psalm 117:1 echoes the same universal scope. Revelation 5:9 places the slain Lamb at the center of a new song sung by a similar assembly.

Why it lands — The multitude is defined by white robes and palm branches, not by tribe or nation, which puts it in direct contrast with the sealed 144,000 in the preceding verses. The reader is asked to hold both images together: a closed, numbered group and an open, uncountable one, both before the same throne.

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

ΜετὰMetaAfterταῦταtautathese thingsεἶδονeidonI lookedκαὶkaiandἰδοὺidoubeholdὄχλοςochlosa multitudeπολὺςpolusgreatὃνhonwhichἀριθμῆσαιarithmēsaito numberαὐτὸνautonitοὐδεὶςoudeisno [one]ἐδύνατοedunatowas ableἐκekout ofπαντὸςpantoseveryἔθνουςethnousnationκαὶkaiandφυλῶνphulōntribesκαὶkaiandλαῶνlaōnpeoplesκαὶkaiandγλωσσῶνglōssōntonguesἑστῶτεςhestōtesstandingἐνώπιονenōpionbeforeτοῦtoutheθρόνουthronouthroneκαὶkaiandἐνώπιονenōpionbeforeτοῦtoutheἀρνίου,arniouLamb,περιβεβλημένουςperibeblēmenoushaving clothed themselves withστολὰςstolasrobesλευκὰςleukaswhiteκαὶkaiandφοίνικεςphoinikespalm branchesἐνeninταῖςtaistheχερσὶνchersinhandsαὐτῶν.autōnof them.

King James Version

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;

Cross-references