Passage

Revelation 22.4

Book: Revelation · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

2. in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3. And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve him;

4. and they shall see his face; and his name shall be on their foreheads.

And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 6. And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angels to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. (Revelation 22:2-6, ASV)

WEB

2. in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3. There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him.

4. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever. 6. He said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things which must happen soon.” (Revelation 22:2-6, WEB)

KJV

2. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4. And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 6. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. (Revelation 22:2-6, KJV)

YLT

2. in the midst of its broad place, and of the river on this side and on that, [is] a tree of life, yielding twelve fruits, in each several month rendering its fruits, and the leaves of the tree [are] for the service of the nations; 3. and any curse there shall not be any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him,

4. and they shall see His face, and His name [is] upon their foreheads,

and night shall not be there, and they have no need of a lamp and light of a sun, because the Lord God doth give them light, and they shall reign, to the ages of the ages. 6. And he said to me, 'These words [are] stedfast and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets did send His messenger to shew to His servants the things that it behoveth to come quickly: (Revelation 22:2-6, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the angelic guide, or the narrating voice of the vision
Audience: the seven churches of Asia, and the wider readership
Location: Patmos, as the vision's setting; the scene described is the New Jerusalem
Time period: traditionally the mid-90s AD under Domitian; an earlier Neronian date is also argued

Theological reading

The last word on the Bible's longest-running problem about perception. "They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads."

Across the canon the refusal has stood. Exodus 33:20: no man can see Me and live. John 1:18: no one has seen God at any time. 1 John 4:12: no one has beheld God at any time. And across the canon the promise has been made anyway. Matthew 5:8: the pure in heart shall see God. 1 Corinthians 13:12: then face to face. Here the promise is stated as accomplished.

The theological resolution is not that the prohibition was mistaken. The consistent New Testament pattern is deferral plus transformation: the creature is changed rather than the requirement relaxed. 1 John 3:2 states it directly, "we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is," where the likeness is the condition of the seeing rather than its result.

The tradition names this the beatific vision. Augustine treats it at De Civitate Dei 22.29, asking how the incorporeal God will be seen by resurrected eyes; Aquinas at Summa Theologiae I.12 argues that the essence cannot be seen by any natural creaturely power and requires the lumen gloriae, a supernatural elevation of the intellect. Both hold that the creature is raised rather than God diminished.

The name on the forehead. The detail is not decorative. Revelation has a running motif of marks that declare allegiance and ownership, set against the mark of the beast in 13:16 to 17. And in the temple system it is the high priest who bore the divine name on his forehead (Exodus 28:36 to 38). The verse extends to all the servants both the sight reserved to Moses and the marking reserved to the priest.

Apologetic use. The verse is the terminus of the codex's perception thread and it should be used to make one point: the biblical account of the relation between creature and Creator is not static. It runs from a sight that would kill, through a mediated one, to a promised direct one. Any objection built on the premise that Scripture simply asserts an unseeable God has not read the ending. See Divine Hiddenness Objection Defeater and Phenomenology of Perception.

Key words

horaō (G3708), to see; the future opsontai, the same form as Matthew 5:8. See G3708 - horao.
prosōpon (G4383), face; the term denied at Exodus 33:20 and promised here.
onoma (G3686), name; see G3686 - onoma.
metōpon (G3359), forehead; the site of the mark, echoing the high-priestly plate.
G3686 - onoma, onoma, Strong's G3686

Cross-references

Exodus 33:20, the refusal this verse finally answers
Matthew 5:8, the promise in beatitude form, same verb
1 Corinthians 13:12, then face to face
1 John 3:2, likeness as the condition of the seeing
John 1:18, the present-tense denial
G3708 - horao, the seeing verb across the whole thread
Phenomenology of Perception, the philosophical treatment of the same theme

Quoted in

Concepts:

Heaven

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.