Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Revelation 6:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse ends with the question of who can stand before the great day of wrath.
The sixth seal shakes the world that seemed solid
This verse is one part of that explanation in Revelation 6:12-17. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Revelation 6:12-17
Read Revelation 6:17 with 6:12-17. This verse ends with the question of who can stand before the great day of wrath. The complete unit's controlling movement is: The sixth seal shakes earth and sky in prophetic judgment imagery; every social rank hides from the throne and Lamb, and the scene ends by asking who can stand.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The preceding movement establishes: Revelation 6:9-11 established this prior movement: Beneath the altar, people slain for God's word ask the holy and true ruler how long until judgment; they receive white robes and rest while the witness company remains incomplete. This unit then contributes: The sixth seal shakes earth and sky in prophetic judgment imagery; every social rank hides from the throne and Lamb, and the scene ends by asking who can stand. The following movement develops: Revelation 7:1-8 continues the book through this next movement: Four winds are restrained until God's servants are sealed; John hears 144,000 from a deliberately unusual twelve-tribe list. At Revelation 6:17, this verse ends with the question of who can stand before the great day of wrath.
Follow the Context
- The sixth seal's earthquake begins one continuous cosmic theophany and human response, ending with the question answered by chapter 7.
- The sixth seal shakes earth and sky in prophetic judgment imagery; every social rank hides from the throne and Lamb, and the scene ends by asking who can stand.
- Isaiah, Joel, and other prophetic texts supply symbolic vocabulary. Literal cosmic, political-collapse, theophanic, recapitulative, and final-consummation readings overlap and differ.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Revelation 6:17 does not turn the fact that it ends with the question of who can stand before the great day of wrath into a standalone universal rule. The wrath scene does not make social rank irrelevant to present injustice.
What Remains True
Revelation 6:17 shows that ends with the question of who can stand before the great day of wrath; its faithful force remains governed by creator worship, the slain Lamb, truthful witness, patient endurance, justice, and new creation.
Teach It Back
Explain Revelation 6:17's specific contribution to Revelation 6:12-17: ends with the question of who can stand before the great day of wrath. Include the surrounding movement, one material uncertainty, and what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Revelation 6:12-17 — Cosmic Collapse Raises the Question: Who Can Stand?Sources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The package keeps the leading alternatives visible and weights them by textual, historical, literary, and reception evidence rather than pretending every proposal is equally strong. Isaiah, Joel, and other prophetic texts supply symbolic vocabulary. Literal cosmic, political-collapse, theophanic, recapitulative, and final-consummation readings overlap and differ.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete coverage.
Exact location: Revelation 6:12-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations checked independently of the KJV.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Revelation.txt, 6:12-17
Open the Revelation Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Revelation with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual variants, imagery, cross-references, and stated alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Revelation PDF, printed pp. 2408–2447, 6:12-17 and attached translator/textual notes
Open the official NET Revelation PDF ↗