Revelation 15: King James (KJV) and Alternate (from the Greek) Word Pictures with Reiterations (AWPR) Versions

Revelation 15

 ¹And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.     (KJV)
          (1)   And behold, look and see: 

                  I saw another miraculous sign of the same kind

                  in  the great and marvelous Heaven,*                     

                  and 7 Angels,

                  having - holding - possessing the last / final 

                  7 strokes - blows - Plagues / Calamities,

                  because in them was brought or carried through to an end

                  accomplishment / destination / goal / completion

                  (of) the outburst of anger - wrath - indignation - fury and

                  violence of the mind of GOD.     (AWPR)

 ²And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.      (KJV)
         (2)   And behold, look and see: I saw

                 as an enclosed Sea

                 transparent like water or glass,

                 having been mixed / mingled / diluted with fire,

                 and those overcoming - prevailing over - conquering - subduing 

            

                 -- out of / from the Therion,

                 and out of / from the Image of it,

                 and out of / from the Mark of it,

                 out of / from the number of the Name of it --

                 standing fast upon the transparent enclosed Sea,

                 having - holding - possessing harps of GOD.   (AWPR)


 ³And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.     (KJV)
          (3)  And they praisingly sing  in honor  the Song of Moses,

                 the bond-slave / servant of GOD,

                 and the Song of the Lamb;

                 laying down forth the definite words / saying,

                       'Great and awesome - wonderful - marvelous

                        [are] the works -deeds -performances of You,

                        LORD GOD ALMIGHTY;

                        Righteous - Straight and Just

                        and True - real and cannot lie (and cannot in any way be false)

                        [are] the ways of You,

                        the King of the set apart - holy (ones) /  Saints.

                        (AWPR)
                       



 ⁴Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.     (KJV)
          (4)   Who in certainly no way fear or are in any way frightened
                   [so as to run away from]
                   You, LORD;

                    and (who) give up - give over - bestow - render and

                    present thoughtful recognition and praise duly rendered

                    to the Name of You,

                    because only / alone  (You) are holy - pure - righteous - sacred,

                    because all ethnicities - nations - races will come here

                    and fall down - worship - show respect and adoration - kissingly praise

                    in the eye of - in the presence of - before You,

                    because the justification / righteous acquittal by ordinance

                    of You (are) made manifest / made known / shown openly and publicly.

                    (AWPR)


 ⁵And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:     (KJV)
          (5)   And after - amongst - in the midst of these things,

                  behold, look and see, I saw and lo - behold, 

                  was open-opened the Temple - Sanctuary - Dwelling Place

                  of the Tent - Tabernacle of Testimony - Declaratory Witness - Proof

                  in Heaven:     (AWPR)


 ⁶And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.     (KJV)
        (6)  And came out - went forth the 7 angels 

               having - holding fast onto - possessing the 7 

               Strokes - Blows - Plagues / Calamities out of the Temple

               having clothed / having put on  

               naturally and spiritually clean and pure 

               bright shining - radiant white linen,

               and having been wrapped around and girded about / clothe about

               the breasts (with) girdles / belts of gold.       (AWPR) 




 ⁷And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.      (KJV)
          (7)   And one of the 4 Living Animalistic Creatures gave - bestowed

                  to the 7 Angels
                  7 wide-mouthed pans / basins / bowls / vials

                  of gold stuffed full [to overflowing] of the outburst of 

                  anger - wrath - indignation - fury and violence of the mind

                  of the Living GOD

                  into the Ages of the Ages / into Forever.    (AWPR)



 ⁸And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.      (KJV)
          (8)  And was filled - stuffed  [to overflowing] 
                 the Temple - Sanctuary - Dwelling Place of smoke

                 out from the Glory - the thoughtful recognition and praise duly rendered

                 of GOD,

                 and out from the power - authority - might of Him.

                 And certainly no one had the ability or power to come -go - enter

                 into the Temple continually,

                 until should be completed - accomplished - finished - made an end to

                 the 7 strokes - blows - plagues / Calamities 

                 of the 7 Angels.      (AWPR)

Disclaimer:  The Alternate Word Pictures with Reiterations (AWPR) translation should be used as a Bible Study Aid only, and it is recommended that a direct literal translation or the King James Bible be used for regular and ecclesiastical purposes, and that the AWPR be used in association only as a Bible study aid so as to help the reader / user in their Bible Studying to clarify context and Scriptural Intent.     Thanks.  -- Brianroy

Comments:

*Verse 1:  The Greek literally says in the 1550 Stephanus New Testament, 1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament, and the 1894 Scrivener New Testament

Καὶ εἶδον ἄλλο σημεῖον ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ 

μέγα καὶ θαυμαστόν ἀγγέλους  ἑπτὰ 

ἔχοντας πληγὰς ἑπτὰ τὰς ἐσχάτας  

ὅτι ἐν αὐταῖς ἐτελέσθη ὁ θυμὸς τοῦ θεοῦ.

There are given us only two choices of translation, neither are traditionally used, and this is ridiculous for it to be so.  Either we take the literal immediate meaning of  mega to apply to the noun immediately preceding it, which is the majority usage by John in Revelation and in the Gospel of John...or, we apply it  to the noun immediately succeeding it, as in two examples where mega preceded the noun it emphasizes (John 7:37, 19:31) in referring to the Great Day of the Feast and the Great Sabbath.  

Now since we have already seen the glassy sea beforehand, what is particularly great and marvelous as a "sign" in the chapter as so many translate?   We must rather choose that megas either is calling Heaven itself as great and awesome / marvelous, or that in the particular instance of this verse and series of verses,  the Angels themselves are set apart from all other angels as a wondrous sight and themselves very huge.   The Fact that the people in Heaven sing a song of Moses and of the Lamb, when it is a literal observable happening is not an especially awesome or great sign.  Nor is the fact that the 7 Angels themselves hold a literal 7 plagues so much  "a wondrous and great sign", as it is to be taken as a literal observance.

And in each other instance that "sign" /  σημειον  / semeion  is used in Revelation (12:1,3; 13:13,14; 16:14; 19:20)  it is seen out of context to ascribe great or μεγα  to the sign itself, but rather it begins a theme or line of thought being conveyed regarding  either Heaven itself, or it must alternately be ascribed to  (the) αγγελους επτα  / (the) Angels 7.

ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 12

 ¹και σημειον μεγα ωφθη εν τω ουρανω....

  ³και ωφθη αλλο σημειον εν τω ουρανω και ιδου δρακων μεγας πυρρος....

ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 13

 ¹³και ποιει σημεια μεγαλα ....

  ¹⁴και πλανα τους κατοικουντας επι της γης δια τα σημεια....

ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 16

  ¹⁴εισιν γαρ πνευματα δαιμονων ποιουντα σημεια εκπορευεσθαι....

ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 19

  ²⁰και επιασθη το θηριον και μετα τουτου ο ψευδοπροφητης ο ποιησας τα σημεια ενωπιον αυτου

Therefore, my translation here follows what I believe the original meaning of the text to be, not tradition in the translation of the same words based on a past tradition in how the verse was accepted, even when there is a very clear and more apparent option that mega is attached either to τω ουρανω / the Heaven or to the 7 angels long before they are attached to the semeion / sign.

And IF, and I say IF the great and wondrous adjectives belong to the "Angels" of the verse, we are talking about beings that must rival the sizes of the largest known people humanity has ever known.

In the Bible, the largest human ever known to be in existence was Og of Bashan, whose bed was 9 twenty-one inch cubits long and 4 twenty-one inch cubits wide.  In other words  189" long = 17' 4"

and 84" wide =  7'.

 Deuteronomy 3:11 (KJV)

 ¹¹For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

If we make an allowance of at least one foot at the head and at the feet, Og was about 15 feet tall, the tallest human that we know of to have ever walked the Earth.

The next tallest that we know of in specificity and by fame is Goliath, which 1 Samuel 17:4 lists as a height of 6  twenty-one inch cubits and 1 Zereth (a large span, equal to 1/2 a cubit).  That comes to 126" plus 10.5" for a total of 136" or a height of 11' 6".

Robert Pershing Wadlow in 1940, shortly before his death at the young age of 22, reached a height

 http://www.maniacworld.com/robert-wadlow-picture-2.htm  

equal to that ascribed to Moses. That of  8'9".

In Berachot 54b

 http://halakhah.com/berakoth/berakoth_54.html

, the rabbis hold the tradition that Moses the Law-giver stood at a height of 10 Cubits, but in fact, what was likely meant was a height of 10 zereths @ 105" or 8' 9".  

A Height of 17' 6" as the intent of Berachot 54b seems very unlikely to have been the intent kept by Talmud, when 10 half cubits using 10 as a perfect measure of the Law (i.e., enveloped within the 10 Commandments) was meant.  Clearly, in Scripture, Og was listed as the last of the remnants of the what appears to separate the true giants from the giants (since Moses is the one who is writing this passage of Deuteronomy 3:11),  and Og's height had to therefore be so impressive, that no other could stand anywhere near as tall against him.   Had this not been so, Og would simply have been either have been compared to being but the same or about the same height as Moses, or his height of no mention at all.  Instead, Og himself was so awesome in height, he even made other giants among men -- even those like Moses at 8' 9" and near our day, Robert Pershing Wadlow in 1940 A.D. --  look small.    

However, I have opted for the majority pattern of Scripture and Greek Grammar to place the emphasis of translation as most likely intending Heaven to be great and wondrous, with an almost equal acceptance that at least the possibility of 7 very huge and awesome angels might also have been implied as well.  While I would very much like to lean to the latter, Greek Grammar and John's usage requires me to translate as to the former.