Revelation - 19:13



13 He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called "The Word of God."

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Revelation 19:13.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
and he is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God.
and he is arrayed with a garment covered with blood, and his name is called, The Word of God.
The outer garment in which He is clad has been dipped in blood and His name is THE WORD OF GOD.
And he is clothed in a robe washed with blood: and his name is The Word of God.
And he was clothed with a vestment sprinkled with blood. And his name is called: THE WORD OF GOD.
he has been clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood; and the name by which he is called is 'The Word of God.'

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood - Red, as if dipped in blood - emblem of slaughter. The original of this image is probably Isaiah 63:2-3. See the notes on that passage.
And his name is called The Word of God - The name which in Revelation 19:12, it is said that no one knew but he himself. This name is Ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ Ho logos tou Theou, or "the Logos of God." That is, this is his unique name; a name which belongs only to him, and which distinguishes him from all other beings. The name "Logos," as applicable to the Son of God, and expressive of his nature, is found in the New Testament only in the writings of John, and is used by him to denote the higher or divine nature of the Saviour. In regard to its meaning, and the reason why it is applied to him, see the notes on John 1:1. The reader also may consult, with great advantage, an article by Prof. Stuart in the Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. vii. pp. 16-31. The following may be some of the reasons why it is said Revelation 19:12 that no one understands this but he himself:
(1) No one but he can understand its full import, as it implies so high a knowledge of the nature of the Deity;
(2) no one but he can understand the relation which it supposes in regard to God, or the relation of the Son to the Father;
(3) no one but he can understand what is implied in it, regarded as the method in which God reveals himself to his creatures on earth;
(4) no one but he can understand what is implied in it in respect to the manner in which God makes himself known to other worlds.
It may be added, as a further illustration of this, that none of the attempts made to explain it have left the matter so that there are no questions unsolved which one would be glad to ask.

He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood - To show that he was just come from recent slaughter. The description is taken from Isaiah 63:2, Isaiah 63:3, where Judas Maccabeus, or some other conqueror, is described.
The Word of God - Written in the Targum, and in other Jewish writings, מימרא דיי meimera daiya, "the word of Jehovah;" by which they always mean a person, and not a word spoken. See the notes on John 1:1, etc.

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood,.... Either in his own, by which he became the Saviour of his church and people; or else in the blood of his saints, he now comes to avenge; or rather in the blood of his enemies, with which he appears as stained, before the battle is fought, the victory being sure, and their slaughter unavoidable: the metaphor is taken from persons treading in a winepress, whose garments are stained with blood of grapes; see Revelation 19:15. Here may be also an allusion to the Roman general's vesture, which was sometimes purple or scarlet, in which he fought, as did Lucullus (s).
And his name is called the Word of God; the name of Christ, often used by John in his Gospel, epistles, and in this book, John 1:1 1-John 1:1. Of the signification, reason, and import of this name; see Gill on John 1:1. The reason why he is called by it here may be partly to express his greatness, glory, and majesty, this being a name which principally belongs to him, is a person, as the Creator of all things, and as previous to his incarnation; and partly because all the promises of God in his word, and which are all yea, and amen in Christ, will be now shortly fulfilled.
(s) Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 20.

vesture dipped in blood-- Isaiah 63:2 is alluded to here, and in Revelation 19:15, end. There the blood is not His own, but that of His foes. So here the blood on His "vesture," reminding us of His own blood shed for even the ungodly who trample on it, is a premonition of the shedding of their blood in righteous retribution. He sheds the blood, not of the godly, as the harlot and beast did, but of the blood-stained ungodly, including them both.
The Word of God--who made the world, is He also who under the same character and attributes shall make it anew. His title, Son of God, is applicable in a lower sense, also to His people; but "the Word of God" indicates His incommunicable Godhead, joined to His manhood, which He shall then manifest in glory. "The Bride does not fear the Bridegroom; her love casteth out fear. She welcomes Him; she cannot be happy but at His side. The Lamb [Revelation 19:9, the aspect of Christ to His people at His coming] is the symbol of Christ in His gentleness. Who would be afraid of a lamb? Even a little child, instead of being scared, desires to caress it. There is nothing to make us afraid of God but sin, and Jesus is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. What a fearful contrast is the aspect which He will wear towards His enemies! Not as the Bridegroom and the Lamb, but as the [avenging] judge and warrior stained in the blood of His enemies."

And he is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood - The blood of the enemies he hath already conquered. Isaiah 63:1, &c

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