Revelation 10:10 kjv
And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Revelation 10:10 nkjv
Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.
Revelation 10:10 niv
I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Revelation 10:10 esv
And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.
Revelation 10:10 nlt
So I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach.
Revelation 10 10 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Eze 2:8-3:3 | "Son of man, eat what you find... eat this scroll, and go, speak... it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. And when I ate it, my stomach was filled..." | Prophetic call, eating a scroll, initial sweetness. |
| Jer 15:16 | "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart..." | Internalizing God's word bringing joy. |
| Ps 119:103 | "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" | The pleasantness and delight in God's law/word. |
| Ps 19:10 | "More to be desired are they than gold... sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." | The supreme value and sweetness of the LORD's words. |
| Matt 13:20-21 | "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself... and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away." | Initial joyful reception, later difficulty. |
| Heb 4:12 | "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit..." | The penetrative and sometimes painful nature of God's word. |
| Acts 9:16 | "For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." | The suffering that accompanies the prophetic call. |
| 2 Cor 11:23-28 | "Are they servants of Christ?... I am more... in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure... besides other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches." | The hardships and burdens of ministry. |
| Jer 1:9-10 | "See, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." | Divine commission of a prophet with dual messages. |
| Rev 11:3 | "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." | Prophets often proclaim in difficult times, in mourning. |
| Rev 5:1-5 | "Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals... worthy is the Lamb..." | The unsealed scroll of judgment and salvation. |
| John 1:1 | "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." | The very nature of divine Word. |
| 1 Pet 1:23-25 | "...born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God..." | The enduring and life-giving power of God's word. |
| Isa 6:8-10 | "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said: Here am I; send me. And he said: Go, and tell this people..." | The willingness to obey a divine prophetic call. |
| Exo 12:8 | "They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it." | Bitter herbs associated with remembering difficult truths. |
| 1 Cor 9:16 | "For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, for necessity is laid on me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" | The compulsion and burden of preaching. |
| Phil 3:7-8 | "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ... I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." | The cost and sacrifice associated with God's calling. |
| Mark 10:29-30 | "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel’s, who will not receive a hundredfold..." | Rewards of discipleship often come with sacrifice. |
| John 6:63 | "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." | The living nature of Christ's words. |
| Acts 20:24 | "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." | The commitment to ministry despite personal cost. |
Revelation 10 verses
Revelation 10 10 Meaning
Revelation 10:10 describes the Apostle John's prophetic commission to receive and internalize a divine message. Upon taking a small scroll from an angel, he is instructed to eat it. The initial taste is profoundly sweet, like honey, signifying the joyful reception and pleasantness of God's word. However, as the scroll is fully ingested, its contents cause a bitter reaction in his stomach. This act symbolizes the dual nature of divine revelation: it is delightful and glorious in its essence, but often contains challenging truths of judgment, suffering, and calls to repentance that are difficult to internalize and proclaim.
Revelation 10 10 Context
Revelation 10 opens with a mighty angel descending from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, a face like the sun, and legs like pillars of fire. This angel holds a "little open scroll" (Rev 10:2). After the angel declares that there will be no more delay, and that "the mystery of God" would be fulfilled (Rev 10:6-7), John is commanded by a voice from heaven to "Go and take the little scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land" (Rev 10:8). Revelation 10:10 directly describes John's immediate obedience to this divine command. The entire chapter serves as an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets, providing a renewed commission for John as a prophet before the final sequence of judgments. Historically, this vision connects with the prophetic traditions of the Old Testament where prophets were often called through symbolic acts or the literal ingestion of God's word to emphasize internalization.
Revelation 10 10 Word analysis
- And I took (καὶ ἔλαβον - kai elabon): This emphasizes John's active, obedient response to the divine command. It is a volitional act on his part, directly involving him in the prophetic process.
- the little book (τὸ βιβλαρίδιον - to biblaridion): This is a diminutive form of 'book' or 'scroll' (βίβλος/βιβλίον). The use of the diminutive suggests it is not the full scroll of Revelation's future events but perhaps a specific portion, particularly focused on the unsealed future and the further prophecy John must make (Rev 10:11). It signifies a contained, specific, yet weighty message given directly to John.
- out of the angel's hand (ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ ἀγγέλου - ek tēs cheiros tou angelou): This specifies the divine source and authority of the message. The angel acts as a messenger of God, delivering God's word directly to John, similar to angelic communications with other prophets in scripture.
- and ate it (καὶ κατέφαγον αὐτό - kai katephagon auto): This is a deliberate, symbolic act of internalization. "Eating" the scroll signifies the absorption of God's message into one's very being, making it a part of oneself. It is not merely reading or hearing, but profoundly integrating the divine revelation, preparing the prophet to speak from a deeply internalised conviction. This concept is mirrored in Old Testament prophetic calls (Eze 2:8-3:3, Jer 15:16).
- and it was in my mouth sweet as honey (καὶ ἦν ἐν τῷ στόματί μου ὡς μέλι γλυκύ - kai ēn en tō stomati mou hōs meli glyky): This describes the initial reception of the divine word. The comparison to honey signifies that God's revelation, in its essence, is delightful, precious, and profoundly satisfying to the soul (Ps 19:10, Ps 119:103). The joy and privilege of receiving truth directly from God bring immediate spiritual gratification and pleasure.
- but when I had eaten it (καὶ ὅτε ἔφαγον αὐτό - kai hote ephagon auto): This introduces a stark contrast, highlighting the consequence or effect after full ingestion and contemplation. The transition marks the shift from immediate reception to the deeper processing and implications of the message.
- my stomach was made bitter (ἐπικράνθη ἡ κοιλία μου - epikranthe hē koilia mou): The stomach represents the inner being, where the message is processed and assimilated. The bitterness signifies the difficult, often painful, and burdensome aspects of the prophecy. This includes the judgments and tribulations that John is to proclaim (the "mystery of God"), and potentially the personal suffering or challenges that accompany a prophetic calling (Eze 3:3-7). It highlights the weighty and solemn responsibility of the prophet, who must speak hard truths.
Revelation 10 10 Bonus section
The act of eating the scroll also serves as a potent metaphor for personal transformation through the Word. The prophet, by ingesting the word, is himself transformed by it. His being is prepared not only to understand but to profoundly feel the message, enabling him to deliver it with conviction and empathy, even concerning the harshest truths. This symbolic gesture also suggests that a true prophetic utterance does not come from intellectual understanding alone, but from a deep, almost visceral, identification with the divine revelation. This "bitterness" of the prophetic burden highlights the cost of true ministry and discipleship, a theme pervasive throughout scripture for those called to significant roles for God's Kingdom.
Revelation 10 10 Commentary
Revelation 10:10 powerfully depicts the spiritual journey and the inherent tension in receiving and proclaiming divine truth. The initial sweetness represents the profound joy, privilege, and nourishment found in God's word, similar to a new believer's excitement or a prophet's initial elation at a divine calling. This phase emphasizes the inherent beauty and comfort of God's presence and truth. However, the subsequent bitterness in the stomach reveals the harsh reality and demanding implications of fully internalizing that truth. For John, this bitterness likely stems from the content of the scroll itself, which would involve the revelation of God's righteous judgments and the impending woes for a rebellious world, as well as the suffering that awaits those who stand for Christ in a fallen world.
This duality speaks to the experience of all who truly engage with God's word: it is sweet as life, wisdom, and salvation, but can become bitter as it calls to repentance, demands sacrifice, reveals sin, warns of judgment, or compels one to walk a path of hardship for Christ's sake. The prophetic commission, as exemplified by John and Ezekiel, is not merely a task of conveying information, but of embodying a message, even when that message brings personal anguish or societal rejection. It highlights that God's message, though divine and perfect, is often difficult for humanity to bear, whether the one receiving it or the world hearing it.