Revelation 10:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, "Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey."

NIV: So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’ "

NASB: And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little scroll. And he *said to me, 'Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.'

CSB: So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth."

NLT: So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. 'Yes, take it and eat it,' he said. 'It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!'

KJV: And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

NKJV: So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

John went to the mighty angel and asked for the scroll. Promptly, the mighty angel gave him the scroll and commanded him to eat it. He told John it would make his stomach bitter but it would taste as sweet as honey. It's not controversial to note that this is highly figurative language. John's actions and reactions here are meant to symbolize important spiritual ideas—not merely the idea of eating a piece of paper.

In the Old Testament the prophet Ezekiel received a command to deliver God's message to rebellious Israel (Ezekiel 2:3–4). Upon receiving this command Ezekiel saw a hand stretched out to him, and a scroll was in the hand (Ezekiel 2:9). "Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel," the Lord said (Ezekiel 3:1). When he ate the scroll, Ezekiel found that it tasted as sweet as honey (Ezekiel 3:3), but later he experienced bitterness (Ezekiel 3:14).

God's Word contains both a sweet message and a bitter message. The prophet Jeremiah testified: "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart" (Jeremiah 15:16). The message of reconciliation and forgiveness is sweet, but the message of condemnation is bitter. The gospel is sweet to those who embrace it, but bitter to those who reject it.

John's eating of the scroll, then, carries the same symbolism as it did for Ezekiel. John is "taking on" the message of God in order to carry it to others. This is a "sweet" experience at first, but the aftermath brings pain and heartache. Communication with God—especially in such an overt way—would certainly be uplifting. Knowing that the message is one of judgment and destruction, however, is gut-wrenching.

Revelation 10:8–11 records that the voice John heard from heaven commanded him to take the scroll from the mighty angel's hand. John obeys the instruction and is told by the mighty angel to eat the scroll. Upon eating the scroll, John finds it is sweet to the taste but bitter to his stomach. John receives word that he must prophesy again about many people and nations and languages and kings. The rest of the book of Revelation unfolds what lies ahead for the Gentiles and the people of Israel.

The apostle John reports what he saw after the sixth trumpet judgment. He saw a mighty angel descend from heaven. The angel held a little scroll open in his hand. His right foot rested on the sea and his left foot rested on the land. Next, John heard the mighty angel call out to the seven thunders, but the angel would not allow John to record the thunders' response. The angel promised there would be no further delay: the seventh trumpet judgment would fulfill the words of the prophets. Finally, John is commanded to take the little scroll and eat it. When John obeyed the command, he found the scroll to be sweet to the taste but bitter in his stomach. The angel told John he must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.

The tenth chapter of Revelation provides an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments. Chapter 9 described the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments, which were somehow even worse than the first four, as described in chapter 8. Here the apostle John reports that he saw a mighty angel descend from heaven and place his right foot on the sea and his left foot on land. He predicted that in the days of the seventh trumpet judgment the mystery of God would be fulfilled. God will soon complete His program for Israel and the Gentiles. In the remaining chapters of Revelation, we see how God deals with apostate Israel, Jewish believers, and the unbelieving Gentiles. This chapter is related to Isaiah 42, Jeremiah 33, and Daniel 2:31–45.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''