Revelation 6:1

εἶδον. Primas[226] omits.

[226] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

λέγοντος ὡς φωνὴ βροντῆς. A reads ὡς φ. β. λέγοντος; Primas[227] omits ὡς φ. β.; א reads λεγόντων ὡς φωνὴν β.; Text. Rec[228] with P 1 λόγοντος ὡς φωνῆς β.

[227] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.
[228] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.

1. μίαν ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ σφραγίδων. It is noteworthy that in this first Vision we have “one,” not “the first,” as in the Visions of the “Trumpets” and “Vials.” μία, in the New Testament, does stand for the first day of the week with and without the article, and with the article in Revelation 9:12 it certainly seems to stand for the first Woe.

ἑνὸς ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων. Presumably the Lion, as the other voices are described as those of the second, third, and fourth. But the voice like thunder, cf. Revelation 10:3, does not refer to the lion’s roaring: no doubt the other three voices were as loud.

ὡς φωνὴ βροντῆς. These words have no precise construction; it is to be supposed that the first term of the comparison is left to be imagined from λέγοντος.

ἔρχον. See critical note. καὶ ἴδε is almost certainly spurious and is not even a correct gloss. If the Seer needed to be bidden draw nigh (which he does not) the word would probably be δεῦρο as in Revelation 17:1; Revelation 21:9, and certainly he would only be bidden once. It would be less impossible to suppose, comparing Revelation 22:17; Revelation 22:20, that the cry is addressed to the Lord Jesus. His creatures pray Him to come—and behold, instead of His coming immediately, there come those terrible precursors of His, so increasingly unlike Him. If so, why is He not named as in Revelation 22:20, though not in 17? Moreover the scene is in Heaven, where He is visibly present, and the seals have to be opened one by one. The whole meaning of the phrase is that each of the living creatures by turns summons one of the four Horsemen.