complete verse (Revelation 6:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 6:5:

  • Uma: “After that, he opened the third seal, I heard the third living thing say: ‘Come here!’ I saw, there also came a horse. That horse was black, and the one who rode him held a scales.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the Sheep removed the third seal from the paper roll and I heard the third angel of-different-kind call, he said, ‘Proceed now.’ When I watched I saw a black horse appear. The rider held scales.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the young sheep removed the third mark on the scroll, I heard the third creature speaking. He said, ‘Get going!’ And I saw there a black horse, and the one riding on it was carrying a balance scale.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “After-that the Sheep detached the third thing-that-was-adhering/affixed, and I heard the voice of the third creature. ‘Come (sing.) right-now,’ he said. As I watched, a black horse suddenly-appeared. The one riding-on-his-back, he was carrying a scale.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Next to be removed by that one referred to as Young Sheep was the third fastening of that writing. The third of the created living beings was next heard by me to speak, saying, ‘Come now!’ As I watched, I saw a black horse next. The one riding on it was holding weighing-scales.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The Lamb broke the third seal. Then the third one who stood at the corner of the chair said to me: ‘Come here so that you can see well,’ he said to me. I looked and I saw a black horse. The horseman held a pair of scales.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 6:5

The first part of this verse follows the same pattern found in verses 1 and 3.

Behold: see 1.7 for ways to translate this word. In the context of this verse, however, Good News Translation‘s rendering “and there” is a good one. Another possible rendering is “and there appeared.”

A black horse: this is the symbol of famine, that is, death caused by famine.

A balance: a pair of scales, on which the scarce food is weighed; see the expression “eat bread by weight” in Ezek 4.16 (see also Lev 26.26). This was probably a weighing device consisting of two round metal plates hanging by strings or ropes to a short wooden or metal pole held in the rider’s hand. Translators should keep this picture in mind and not use words describing modern weighing systems. It is possible, then, to translate this sentence as follows: “a pair of scales was hanging from the rider’s hand,” or in other languages “a scale was hanging….”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .