Revelation of John 8:4
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, rose up before God from the hand of the angel.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
the smoke . . . which came with the prayers . . . ascended up--rather, "the smoke of the incense FOR (or 'given TO': 'given' being understood from Rev 8:3) the prayers of the saints ascended up, out of the angel's hand, in the presence of Gods" The angel merely burns the incense given him by Christ the High Priest, so that its smoke blends with the ascending prayers of the saints. The saints themselves are priests; and the angels in this priestly ministration are but their fellow servants (Rev 19:10).
Open source ↗We have already seen what occurred upon opening six of the seals; we now come to the opening of the seventh, which introduced the sounding of the seven trumpets; and a direful scene now opens. Most expositors agree that the seven seals represent the interval between the apostle's time and the reign of Constantine, but that the seven trumpets are designed to represent the rise of antichrist, some time after the empire became Christian. In this chapter we have, I. The preface, or prelude, to the sounding of the trumpets (Rev 8:1-6). II. The sounding of four of the trumpets (Rev 8:7, etc.).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
And at the hour of the incense offering, the whole congregation was praying outside.
Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
“You are also to make an altar of acacia wood for the burning of incense.
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.