Revelation 15:4

God's holiness is the reason why his name must be feared and magnified, especially when its effects are visible in the reverent homage of all nations to God (a hyperbolical statement in view of Revelation 16:9, etc.) at the sight of his “deeds of judgment” (δικαιώματα = judicial sentences, here of condemnation and penalty) inflicted on the world (cf. Daniel 9:14 f.). The absolute and unique (note the prophet's insertion of μόνος) reign of Yahveh was a traditional tenet of Mosaism; indeed for Orientals generally the power which formed their ideal source of righteousness and justice partook necessarily of a monarchic character (R. S. 74 f.). To the Semites it appeared that the perfection of their god as a just king formed a ground for his ultimate sovereignty over the nations of the world. The O.T. outlook and the phraseology warn us not to press the poetical language too closely here; otherwise (cf. Revelation 14:6-7) it would contradict, e.g., the characteristic idea of the author that the bowl-plagues, instead of producing penitence and submission, ended in defiant blasphemy. ἐνώπιόν σου, here a reverential periphrasis, it being considered in the later O.T. literature, the Targums, and the N.T. (occasionally) more respectful to worship and pray before the royal god than directly to him (Dalman, i. viii. 5). For the whole conception of this dual song see Targ. Jonath. on Isaiah 26:1 and Targ. Schir Haschirim i. 1; the latter reckons ten songs altogether, (1) Adam's at his forgiveness, (2) that of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea, (3) that of the Israelites, when the spring of water was given them, (4) that of Moses at his death, (5) Joshua's at Gibeon, (6) that of Barak and Deborah, (7) Hannah's, (8) David's, (9) Solomon's, and (10) that which the children of the captivity are to sing when the Lord frees them. It tallies with this expectation that the new song of the Apocalypse (Revelation 5:9; Revelation 14:3) is always a song of Christ's redemption.

Revelation 15:5 to Revelation 16:1 : the introduction to the seven bowls or plagues.