Revelation 7:13

“And one of the elders addressed me, saying”; for similar openings of a dialogue, see Jeremiah 1:11; Zechariah 4:2. Perhaps, like Dante (Parad. iv. 10 12), John although silent showed desire painted on his face. The form of inquiry resembles Homer's τίς πόθεν εἶς ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις or Vergil's qui genus? unde domo?, more closely still the similar sentences which recur in Hermas. See throughout, Zechariah 4:1; Zechariah 4:6, and Asc. Isa. ix. 25, 26 (and I said to the angel “For whom are these robes and thrones and crowns reserved?” And he said to me: “They shall be missed by many who believe the words of him of whom I told thee [i.e., Antichrist]”; also 11:40, uos autem uigilate in sancto spiritu ut recipiatis stolam uestram et thronos et coronas gloriae in caelo iacentes). It is the origin and character, not the number, of the company which interests the prophet.