Apocalypse 5:1
And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et vidi in dextera sedentis supra thronum, librum scriptum intus et foris, signatum sigillis septem.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- Καὶ εἶδον ἐπὶ τὴν δεξιὰν τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου βιβλίον γεγραμμένον ἔσωθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν, κατεσφραγισμένον σφραγῖσιν ἑπτά.
Haydock's commentary
A book written within and without.1 Books were then skins, membranes, or parchments, and when written on both sides part of the writing appeared, though they were rolled up.
Sealed with seven seals, as containing mysteries and secrets of high importance. (Witham)
1 Intus et foris, esothen kai opisthen; on the back side.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, That Christ was to be born of the seed of David, according to the flesh
In the second of Kings: “And the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in; but it shall come to pass, when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee who shall come from thy loins, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build me a house in my name, and I will set up His throne for ever; and I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son; and His house shall obtain confidence, and His kingdom for ever in my sight.” Also in Isaiah: “And a rod shall go forth of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall go up from his root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety; and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill …
St Victorinus of Pettau Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, From the fifth chapter
1. “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals.”] This book signifies the Old Testament, which has been given into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ , who received from the Father judgment.
Origen Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John, Chapter IV
4. I feel myself growing dizzy with all this, and wonder whether, in obeying you, I have not been obeying God, nor walking in the footsteps of the saints, unless it be that my too great love to you, and my unwillingness to cause you any pain, has led me astray and caused me to think of all these excuses. We started from the words of the preacher, where he says: “My son, beware of making many books.” With this I compare a saying from the Proverbs of the same Solomon, “In the multitude of words thou shalt not escape sin; but in sparing thy lips thou shalt be wise.” Here I ask whether speaking many words of whatever kind is a multitude of words (in the sense of the preacher), even if the many words a man speaks are sacred and connected with salvation. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Paulinus
5. In the apocalypse a book is shewn sealed with seven seals, which if you deliver to one that is learned saying, Read this, he will answer you, I cannot, for it is sealed. How many there are to-day who fancy themselves learned, yet the scriptures are a sealed book to them, and one which they cannot open save through Him who has the key of David, “he that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth.” In the Acts of the Apostles the holy eunuch (or rather “man” for so the scripture calls him) when reading Isaiah he is asked by Philip “Understandest thou what thou readest?”, makes answer: “How can I except some man should guide me?” To digress for a moment to myself, I am neither holier nor more diligent than this eunuch, who came from Ethiopia, that is from the ends of the world, to the Temple leaving behind him a queen’s palace, and was so great a lover of the Law and of …
St Vincent of Lerins Chapter V. The Example set us by the Martyrs, whom no force could hinder from defending the Faith of their Predecessors
And again in the third book of the same work, “Let us observe the precepts of our predecessors, and not transgress with rude rashness the landmarks which we have inherited from them. That sealed Book of Prophecy no Elders, no Powers, no Angels, no Archangels, dared to open. To Christ alone was reserved the prerogative of explaining it. Who of us may dare to unseal the Sacerdotal Book sealed by Confessors, and consecrated already by the martyrdom of numbers, which they who had been compelled by force to unseal afterwards resealed, condemning the fraud which had been practised upon them; while they who had not ventured to tamper with it proved themselves Confessors and martyrs? How can we deny the faith of those whose victory we proclaim?”