Translation
And they were singing a new song which says, “You are worthy to take the scroll
and open its seals
because you were slain,
and by your blood you purchased for GOD
Go to footnote numbermen from
every tribe, language, people and nation
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
And they were
singing a new song which says,
“You are worthy to
take the message and demonstrate the authority required to receive and implement the message, because you were slain, and by your blood you purchased for THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS, men from every bloodline, every language group, every cultural group, and every ethnic group.
Footnotes
1
God already owns all things, so why do we need to be purchased for Him? This is the central theme of the entire Bible. Sin has caused a break in the relationship between God and man and therefore reconciliation must be sought. But reconciliation has a price, a very high price. Jesus paid that price with His blood and thus purchased us back so we can once again belong unquestioningly to our original Creator.
2
Symbols on top of symbols: Notice how many categories of people are mentioned. There are four. Four was a symbol of completeness or fullness in a human or earthly sense. Each of the categories itself is saying “all people” because the word “every” is implied by the repetition of “and” to carry over to each category, and the number four also says “all.” So the concept of “all” is expressed here how many times? The answer is 4 multiplied 4 times, meaning “absolutely, unquestionably, all.” It is not 4 plus 1, meaning 5, which is a cutting short of organizational and legal power; and it is not just 4, which would mean “all” without any emphasis. This is an exaggeratedly strong way to say “all.” The point could not be made more clearly: The Lamb has indeed purchased for God people from absolutely everywhere.