Revelation 5:5

ἀνοῖξαι. B2 reads ὁ�.

5. εἷς ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων. Cf. Revelation 7:13; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:1; Revelation 21:9.

ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα. Genesis 49:9.

ἡ ῥίζα Δαυείδ. Revelation 22:16; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 11:10, where however we have the Root of Jesse. Some distinguish the two phrases, as if Christ were said to grow from the obscure Jesse in reference to the time of His humiliation, from the kingly David in reference to His exaltation. But this shews a misconception of the original figure, which is taken from a tree that seemed to be dying, like the house of David in the days of Ahaz (Isaiah 7:13): then a new and stately stem shoots up from the root.

ἀνοῖξαι. Christ’s victory (won upon earth, which is an argument that the whole of the context is Christian) has this consequence that He can “open.” The well supported variant ὁ� is grammatically easier and less effective—both presumptions in favour of the text.