Revelation 6:17
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Study Note
Study Note
'For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?' — the terrified cry of earth's rulers and the powerful as they flee the wrath of the Lamb echoes Nahum 1:6, Joel 2:11, and Malachi 3:2's rhetorical questions about the day of the Lord. The irony is acute: those who wielded power on earth — kings, captains, rich men (6:15) — are undone by the very power they thought they exercised. The verse provides the theological context for understanding Revelation's judgments not as divine vindictiveness but as the inevitable arrival of cosmic reckoning that the entire prophetic tradition had announced.
Other Translations
for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?
because come did the great day of His anger, and who is able to stand?
For the great day of their wrath is come, and who may keep his place?
Cross References
Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and …
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; …
And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong …
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of …
The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day …
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but …