Revelation 1:15 - Exposition

Fine brass . This may stand as a translation of χαλκολίβανος , a word which occurs here and in Revelation 2:18 only, and the second half of which has never been satisfactorily explained. It may have been a local technical term in use among the metalworkers of Ephesus ( Acts 19:24 ; 2 Timothy 4:14 ). The Rhemish Version renders it "latten." In what follows, the Revised Version is to be preferred: "as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters." It is tempting to think that "the roar of the sea is in the ears of the lonely man in Patmos;" but the image seems rather to be that of the sound of many cataracts (comp. Ezekiel 1:24 ; Ezekiel 43:2 ; Daniel 10:6 ). There is singularly little of the scenery of Patmos in the Apocalypse.