Revelation 14:2

I heard a sound from heaven, which was as loud [SIM] as the sound of a huge waterfall (OR, a great/wide river of rushing water) and which was also as loud as [SIM] mighty thunder. The sound that I heard was like the sound that people make when they are playing their harps.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

In Context

1But then I saw the one who is like a lamb standing on Zion Hill in Jerusalem. With him were 144,000 people. His name and his Father’s name had been written { He had written his name and his Father’s name} on their foreheads.

3The 144,000 people were singing a new song while they stood in front of the throne, in front of the four living creatures, and in front of the elders. Only the 144,000 people, the ones who have been {whom the one who is like a lamb has} redeemed/bought from among the people on the earth, could learn that song. No one else could learn the song that they sang.

Read all of Revelation 14

Cross References

Exodus 19:16Two days later, during the morning, there was thunder and lightning, and a very dark cloud on the mountain. A trumpet sounded very loudly, with the result that the people in the camp shook/trembled because they were very afraid.

2 Samuel 6:5David and all the Israeli men were celebrating in God’s presence, singing with all their strength and playing lyres and harps, and beating tambourines, and clashing castanets and cymbals.

2 Chronicles 20:28When they arrived at Jerusalem, they went to the temple, playing harps and lutes and trumpets.

Psalms 43:4When you do that, I will go to your altar, to worship you, my God, who causes me to be extremely joyful. There I will praise you, the God whom I worship, while I play my harp.

Psalms 92:3accompanied by musicians playing harps that have ten strings, and by the sounds made by a lyre.

Psalms 98:5Praise Yahweh while you play the lyres/harps, playing delightful music.

Matthew Henry on Revelation 14:2-6

The Lamb and His Attendants. ( a. d. 95.) 1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Revelation 14:2