Heaven erupts in thunderous praise as the bride of Christ is made ready and the King of Kings descends for final judgment. This climactic chapter unveils the wedding celebration between Christ and His church, followed by the dramatic appearance of the conquering Messiah on a white horse. The beast and false prophet meet their doom as the Lord returns not as a suffering servant, but as the righteous warrior-judge. What began in humiliation at Bethlehem culminates here in glorious vindication and victory.
The chapter opens with the temporal-narrative phrase Meta tauta ('after these things'), John's standard transition between visionary blocks (4:1; 7:1; 7:9; 15:5; 18:1). The aorist ēkousa ('I heard') governs the comparative hōs phōnēn megalēn ochlou pollou ('like a great voice of a great multitude'). The doubled megalēn... pollou creates an auditory crescendo: the loudness and the multitude. The locative en tō ouranō ('in heaven') marks this as the first explicitly heaven-located scene since chapter 15—the heavenly choir resumes after the earth-centered judgments of chapters 16-18.
The four-fold heavenly liturgy of vv. 1-6 is structured around four uses of Ἁλληλουϊά (Hallēlouia), the only NT occurrences of this transliterated Hebrew acclamation. The structure is symmetrical: the great multitude shouts Hallelujah twice (vv. 1, 3), the elders and creatures respond with 'Amen, Hallelujah' (v. 4), and the multitude returns with the climactic Hallelujah of v. 6. The four-fold acclamation deliberately recalls the four-fold silence-breaking of the heavenly courtroom in 4:8 ('Holy, holy, holy') and 4:11 ('Worthy are You'). What was sustained as 'holy' in chapter 4 reaches its consummation as 'hallelujah' here.
The first stanza (v. 1) is doxological: hē sōtēria kai hē dynamis kai hē doxa tou Theou hēmōn ('the salvation and the power and the glory belong to our God'). The triple articular nominative without copula expresses ascription—these qualities belong to and emanate from God. The first noun, sōtēria ('salvation'), is positioned for emphasis: God's saving action is the foundation upon which the entire chapter rests. Salvation here is not narrowly individual rescue but cosmic vindication—the saving of God's people by means of the destruction of Babylon.
The grounds-clauses of vv. 2-3 unfold in three hoti-clauses, each tightening the focus. The first: ὅτι ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ κρίσεις αὐτοῦ ('because His judgments are true and righteous'). The pair alēthinai kai dikaiai ('true and righteous') is a recurring formula in Revelation (15:3; 16:7) drawn from Deuteronomy 32:4 LXX. The second hoti-clause grounds the first: 'because He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth.' The verb ephtheiren ('was corrupting,' imperfect) describes Babylon's continuous, ongoing destructive work; the aorist ekrinen ('He has judged') describes God's decisive, completed response. The third hoti-clause echoes the martyrs' cry from 6:10: kai exedikēsen to haima tōn doulōn autou ek cheiros autēs ('and He has avenged the blood of His slaves out of her hand'). The phrase ek cheiros autēs ('out of her hand') is a Septuagintism (Hebrew מִיַּד) treating Babylon as the murderous agent whose hand has been forced to release the blood-debt. Compare the martyrs' question in 6:10—heōs pote... ou krineis kai ekdikeis to haima hēmōn ('how long until You judge and avenge our blood'). The same two verbs, now in completed aorist: ekrinen kai exedikēsen. The 'how long' has been answered.
Verse 3's striking present indicative kai ho kapnos autēs anabainei eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn ('and her smoke rises forever and ever') uses the present tense for an action understood as ongoing and perpetual. This is the same temporal phrase used of God's eternal worship (4:9-10; 5:13-14) and of the saints' eternal reign (22:5)—the durative quality of Babylon's smoke matches the durative quality of the worship of God. What Babylon mocked, she becomes a perpetual memorial of: her ascending smoke is the inverse mirror of the ascending incense of the saints' prayers (5:8; 8:3-4).
The chiastic worship-scene of v. 4 returns to the throne-room imagery of chapter 4: hoi presbyteroi hoi eikosi tessares kai ta tessara zōa ('the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures'). The aorist epesan ('they fell,' a single decisive act) with the aorist prosekynēsan ('they worshiped') describes the prostration that has been their characteristic posture since chapter 4. The bilingual response Amēn, Hallēlouia joins the Hebrew confessional adverb (Amen = 'truly, faithfully') with the Hebrew worship imperative (Hallelujah = 'praise Yah'), forming a single bicultural acclamation that anticipates the multi-ethnic worship of the eschaton.
Verse 5 introduces a new voice: kai phōnē apo tou thronou exēlthen legousa ('and a voice came forth from the throne'). The voice is unidentified—possibly the Lamb, possibly an angelic representative of the throne, possibly the Father Himself. The imperative Aineite tō Theō hēmōn ('praise our God,' present active imperative, durative) summons the entire community of God's slaves to ongoing praise. The four substantival adjectives (hoi douloi, hoi phoboumenoi, hoi mikroi, hoi megaloi) create a comprehensive social inventory: God's slaves include both the small and the great, the obscure and the renowned. The dichotomy mikroi kai megaloi appears repeatedly in Revelation (11:18; 13:16; 19:18; 20:12) as a merism for the totality of humanity—every social stratum is included in this final summons to praise.
The 'how long' of the martyrs in chapter 6 is answered with the four-fold Hallelujah of chapter 19. What ascends from Babylon as smoke, ascends from heaven as praise—two perpetual columns marking the two cities of human history. The voice from the throne summons every slave of God to join the second.
The four-fold Hallēlouia consciously evokes the Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118), the great praise-cycle sung at Passover and the major Jewish festivals. Each Hallel psalm opens or closes with הַלְלוּ־יָהּ (hallelû-yāh, 'praise Yah'). The eschatological context of chapter 19 transforms these familiar Passover-psalms into the song of the final Exodus: as Israel sang Hallelujah at the death of Pharaoh's army in the sea, the church sings Hallelujah at the fall of Babylon-Pharaoh. The thematic parallel is exact: a tyrant who held God's people in bondage is judged in the waters (literal Red Sea / metaphorical sea of Babylon's destruction), and the people respond with the appointed praise-formula.
The phrase 'true and righteous' (alēthinai kai dikaiai) draws from Deuteronomy 32:4: הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלוֹ כִּי כָל־דְּרָכָיו מִשְׁפָּט אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְאֵין עָוֶל צַדִּיק וְיָשָׁר הוּא ('The Rock—His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice, a God of faithfulness without iniquity, righteous and upright is He'). The Song of Moses contributes the entire theological framework: God's mishpāṭ (justice) and ṣaddîq (righteousness) are His unimpeachable nature. Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX adds the avenging-blood theme: 'rejoice, O nations, with His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants.' This verse is quoted in Revelation 19:2 with verbal precision: exedikēsen to haima tōn doulōn autou.
The martyrs' cry of 6:10 ('how long, holy and true Master, until You judge and avenge our blood?') quoted Psalm 79:10: לָמָּה יֹאמְרוּ הַגּוֹיִם אַיֵּה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם יִוָּדַע בַּגֹּיִם לְעֵינֵינוּ נִקְמַת דַּם־עֲבָדֶיךָ הַשָּׁפוּךְ ('Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the blood of Your servants which has been shed be known among the nations'). Psalm 79's prayer is answered in Revelation 19:2's announcement.
"Hallelujah" for Ἁλληλουϊά (Hallēlouia) — LSB transliterates rather than translating ('Praise Yahweh'), recognizing that the Greek itself is already a transliteration of the Hebrew, and the bilingual layering preserves the worship-acclamation as a fixed liturgical token rather than a paraphrasable phrase. The Hebrew force is implicit in the form.
"His slaves" for τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ (tōn doulōn autou) — LSB consistently renders doulos as 'slave,' even where the Greek context is doxological. The blood that was avenged was the blood of God's slaves—the ownership-language is preserved on both sides of the relationship: Babylon could not enslave them because they already belonged to God.
"Was corrupting" for ἔφθειρεν (ephtheiren) — LSB renders the imperfect tense with English progressive ('was corrupting'), preserving the durative force. The verb phtheirō can mean 'to corrupt morally' or 'to ruin/destroy' physically; LSB chooses the moral force ('corrupting') because v. 2 specifies the means: en tē porneia autēs ('in/by her sexual immorality').
"Out of her hand" for ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῆς (ek cheiros autēs) — LSB preserves the literal Septuagintism. The English idiom would be 'from her' or 'on her,' but LSB keeps 'out of her hand' to signal the Hebrew-shaped legal language: the avenger reclaims the blood-debt from the murderous hand, as Genesis 9:5 envisions ('from the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man').
The passage opens with a symphonic crescendo of sound: John hears 'something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder.' The threefold comparison (ὡς... καὶ ὡς... καὶ ὡς) piles up images of overwhelming volume and power—countless voices, cascading waters, crashing thunder—all converging in a single shout: 'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.' The perfect tense ἐβασίλευσεν (has taken His reign) marks a decisive, completed action with ongoing results: God's kingship is now manifest, not merely asserted. This is the fourth and final 'Hallelujah' in the chapter (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), and it transitions from judgment (the fall of Babylon) to celebration (the marriage of the Lamb). The aorist ἦλθεν (has come) in verse 7 similarly marks arrival: the wedding is not future hope but present reality.
Verses 7-8 shift to hortatory subjunctives—'let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him'—inviting the heavenly multitude (and John's readers) into participatory worship. The reason (ὅτι) is twofold: the marriage has come, and the bride has made herself ready (ἡτοίμασεν ἑαυτήν). The reflexive pronoun emphasizes the bride's active preparation, yet verse 8 immediately qualifies this with a divine passive: 'it was given to her' (ἐδόθη αὐτῇ). The tension is deliberate and profound—the bride prepares herself, yet her preparation is a gift. The explanatory γάρ clause identifies the fine linen as 'the righteous deeds of the saints,' grounding the metaphor in ethical reality. The bride's beauty is not cosmetic but moral, the visible fruit of lives transformed by grace.
Verse 9 introduces a beatitude, the fourth of seven in Revelation (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). The angel commands John to write (Γράψον, aorist imperative), underscoring the authoritative and permanent nature of this blessing. Those 'invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb' (οἱ... κεκλημένοι, perfect passive participle) are blessed not by their own initiative but by divine summons. The angel's follow-up—'These are true words of God' (οἱ λόγοι ἀληθινοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ)—authenticates the beatitude with divine authority, perhaps because the promise seems too good to be true. The adjective ἀληθινοί (true, genuine, real) contrasts with the false promises of Babylon and assures readers that this wedding feast is no mirage.
John's response in verse 10 is instinctive but misguided: he falls before the angel to worship him. The angel's rebuke is sharp and immediate: Ὅρα μή (literally 'See [that you do] not!'). The angel's self-identification as σύνδουλος (fellow slave) demolishes any hierarchy that would justify worship of a creature. The phrase 'of yours and your brothers who hold the witness of Jesus' binds angels and faithful humans together in common service. The command τῷ θεῷ προσκύνησον (worship God) is emphatic by word order and dative case—worship is to be directed to God alone. The concluding explanatory statement—'For the witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy'—is dense and programmatic. It identifies the animating principle (πνεῦμα) of all true prophecy as testimony to Jesus, ensuring that prophecy never becomes an end in itself but always points to the Lamb.
The bride's wedding garment is woven from her own righteous deeds, yet even this readiness is a gift—grace does not bypass human agency but empowers it, so that our obedience becomes the very fabric of our glorification.
The passage opens with the apocalyptic formula 'I saw heaven opened' (εἶδον τὸν οὐρανὸν ἠνεῳγμένον), signaling a climactic revelation. The perfect passive participle ἠνεῳγμένον emphasizes the state of openness—heaven stands unveiled, granting unobstructed vision of the divine warrior. The exclamatory ἰδού ('behold') directs attention to the white horse and its Rider, whose identity unfolds through a cascade of titles and descriptions. The structure is paratactic, with καί linking clause after clause in a breathless accumulation of attributes: He is called Faithful and True, He judges and wages war in righteousness, His eyes are flame, His head bears many diadems. This piling up of descriptors mirrors the overwhelming majesty of the vision itself—John can scarcely catalog the glories fast enough.
Verses 12-13 focus on the Rider's appearance, moving from eyes to head to garment to name. The eyes 'a flame of fire' (φλὸξ πυρός) recall 1:14 and 2:18, emphasizing penetrating judgment and divine holiness. The 'many diadems' contrast with the limited crowns of dragon and beast, asserting Christ's superior sovereignty. The mysterious name 'which no one knows except Himself' (ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ αὐτός) introduces an element of inscrutability—even in full revelation, Christ retains depths beyond human comprehension. The blood-dipped garment (ἱμάτιον βεβαμμένον αἵματι) evokes Isaiah 63, and the public name 'The Word of God' (ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ) identifies Him unmistakably with the Johannine Logos. The interplay of known and unknown names underscores the paradox of revelation: God discloses Himself truly yet never exhaustively.
Verse 14 introduces the heavenly armies (τὰ στρατεύματα τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ), clothed in white linen and mounted on white horses, following the Rider. The imperfect ἠκολούθει suggests continuous action—they were following, an ongoing procession. Their white garments echo the attire of the redeemed (7:9, 13-14), suggesting these are not angels but glorified saints participating in the Messiah's triumph. Verse 15 shifts to the Rider's weapons and actions, employing a series of present and future tenses that blend imminence and certainty. The sword 'comes' (ἐκπορεύεται, present) from His mouth, He 'will shepherd' (ποιμανεῖ, future) with an iron rod, and He 'treads' (πατεῖ, present) the winepress. The purpose clause ἵνα ἐν αὐτῇ πατάξῃ τὰ ἔθνη ('so that with it He may strike down the nations') makes clear that the sword is instrumental—His word is the means of judgment. The piling up of genitives in 'the winepress of the wine of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty' (τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ παντοκράτορος) creates a crescendo of intensity, each genitive amplifying the terror of divine judgment.
Verse 16 concludes with the climactic title inscribed 'on His garment and on His thigh' (ἐπὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν αὐτοῦ)—a location suggesting both visibility and intimacy, perhaps where the robe falls across the thigh of the mounted Rider. The title 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS' (Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ κύριος κυρίων) is presented in capitals in most translations to reflect its inscribed, proclamatory nature. The genitive of comparison (a Hebraism) asserts absolute supremacy: not merely a king among kings but the King to whom all kings are subject. This title, already attributed to the Lamb in 17:14, now appears as a visible, public declaration. The rhetorical effect is one of finality and inevitability—the question of sovereignty is settled, the outcome of the cosmic conflict assured. The one who rides forth is not a contender but the Victor, not a claimant but the rightful Sovereign whose reign is about to be universally acknowledged.
The Rider on the white horse is not a new character but the full unveiling of the Lamb who was slain—His mercy and His justice are one seamless reality, and the blood that redeemed His people is the same righteousness that judges His enemies.
The fourth tab opens with the angelic invocation that frames the entire battle scene as a banquet. The participial phrase hena angelon hestōta en tō hēliō ('one angel standing in the sun') is paradoxical: a created being positioned within the sun itself, irradiating his proclamation across every horizon simultaneously. The numeral hena ('one,' substantival usage) functions like the Hebrew אֶחָד—not 'one of several' but 'a particular one' (cf. 8:13; 18:21). The angel's location en tō hēliō matches the maximum-visibility logic of en mesouranēmati from chapter 14: this is universal proclamation, audible to every bird in flight.
The summons Deute synachthēte eis to deipnon to mega tou Theou ('Come, gather to the great supper of God') is a deliberate dark mirror of v. 9's makarioi hoi eis to deipnon tou gamou tou arniou keklēmenoi ('blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb'). Both verses use deipnon ('supper'), and both are framed by divine invitation. But the guests differ catastrophically: at the Lamb's supper, the guests are the saints and the menu is messianic communion; at God's great supper, the guests are scavenger birds and the menu is the corpses of the beast's army. There are only two suppers; the chapter forces every reader to choose which table they will occupy.
The seven-fold catalog of sarkas ('flesh,' accusative plural) in v. 18 is precisely structured to invert v. 5's seven-fold inclusion of God's slaves. Where v. 5 summoned 'all His slaves, both small and great' to praise, v. 18 invites the birds to consume 'all flesh, both free and slave, both small and great.' The categories mikrōn kai megalōn ('small and great') appear in both verses—the universal merism that comprehended the worshipers in v. 5 now comprehends the eaten in v. 18. The sevenfold sarkas matches the sevenfold seal/trumpet/bowl judgments of the book: a literary signature of completeness. The army of the beast is consumed in its entirety—from king to slave, from horse to horseman, from commander to common soldier. No social rank survives the sword from Christ's mouth.
The narrative of v. 19 is striking in its brevity. The expected battle is announced (synēgmena poiēsai ton polemon, 'gathered to make war') but never narrated. The Greek synēgmena (perfect passive participle, 'having been gathered') uses the same verb as the angel's summons in v. 17—synachthēte. The two gatherings happen in parallel: as the beast gathers his army to fight, the birds gather to feast on that army. The infinitive of purpose poiēsai ton polemon ('to make war') is futile; no battle ensues. The text moves directly from the gathering to the seizing: kai epiasthē to thērion ('and the beast was seized'). The aorist passive epiasthē ('was caught,' from piazō, the verb used of arresting Jesus in John 7:30, 32, 44; 8:20; 10:39; 11:57) treats the cosmic Antichrist as a fugitive criminal apprehended by the proper authorities. The same verb that described his attempted seizure of Jesus describes his own seizure—the agency has been definitively reversed.
The double object of seizure—to thērion kai... ho pseudoprophētēs—captures the unholy duo of political tyranny and religious deception introduced in chapter 13. The substantival participial phrases describing the false prophet are dense with theological indictment: ho poiēsas ta sēmeia enōpion autou ('the one who performed the signs in his presence'), en hois eplanēsen ('by which he deceived'), tous labontas to charagma ('those who received the mark'), tous proskynountas tē eikoni ('those who worshiped the image'). The pseudo-prophet's signs deceived; the deceived received marks; the marked worshiped images. The chain of complicity is summarized in four participial phrases, and all four are now answered by a single aorist passive: eblēthēsan ('they were thrown'). The participle zōntes ('alive,' present active) modifies the verb adverbially: they enter the lake of fire without dying first. This bypasses the normal sequence (death → judgment → second death) for the two arch-enemies—they go directly to the second death while still in their first life. The expression tēs kaiomenēs en theiō ('which burns with brimstone') uses theion (sulfur) to evoke the Sodom-and-Gomorrah judgment of Genesis 19:24—the fire-and-brimstone formula has come full circle.
The closing v. 21 disposes of the army with similarly economical violence. Hoi loipoi ('the rest') refers to all who followed the beast and false prophet—the human soldiers of his army. The aorist passive apektanthēsan ('they were killed') uses the divine-passive: God is the agent through Christ. The instrumental phrase en tē rhomphaia tou kathēmenou epi tou hippou tē exelthousē ek tou stomatos autou ('by the sword of the One sitting on the horse, the sword going forth from His mouth') is a single instrumental clause stretched across an entire verse-half, with the participial tē exelthousē agreeing with rhomphaia. The location of the sword (in His mouth, not His hand) matters theologically: the weapon is His word. He does not strike with steel; He speaks, and they fall. This fulfills Isaiah 11:4 LXX—pataxei gēn tō logō tou stomatos autou ('He will strike the earth with the word of His mouth')—and 49:2 (His mouth made like a sharp sword).
The closing clause kai panta ta ornea echortasthēsan ek tōn sarkōn autōn ('and all the birds were filled with their flesh') closes the inclusio opened by the angelic summons. The aorist passive echortasthēsan uses the same verb Jesus used in the Beatitude 'blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled' (Matthew 5:6). The dark inversion is unmistakable: those who refused to be filled with righteousness become the filling for the birds. The chapter ends not with celebration but with grim sufficiency: every bird is satisfied, no flesh is left uneaten, the meal is complete. The next chapter will turn to the millennial reign and the final judgment, but here the cosmic reckoning has reached its first satisfaction.
Two suppers stand at the climax of history: the Lamb's marriage feast and God's great battlefield banquet. There are only two seats in this whole book—at the Lamb's table or on it. The angel in the sun calls all creation to the second feast, and his cry ends every reader's freedom not to choose.
The angelic summons of the birds to God's great supper is taken almost verbatim from Ezekiel 39:17-20, the climax of the Gog and Magog oracle: בֶּן־אָדָם אֱמֹר לְצִפּוֹר כָּל־כָּנָף וּלְכֹל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה הִקָּבְצוּ וָבֹאוּ הֵאָסְפוּ מִסָּבִיב עַל־זִבְחִי אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי זֹבֵחַ לָכֶם זֶבַח גָּדוֹל עַל הָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל ('Son of man, say to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, "Assemble and come, gather from every side to my sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel"'). Ezekiel's catalog—'flesh of mighty ones... drink the blood of the princes of the earth'—becomes John's seven-fold catalog of sarkas. The lake-of-fire-with-brimstone language draws from Genesis 19:24, where Yahweh rains brimstone-and-fire on Sodom: וַיהוָה הִמְטִיר עַל־סְדֹם וְעַל־עֲמֹרָה גָּפְרִית וָאֵשׁ. The Sodom-paradigm of judgment-by-brimstone-and-fire is now eternal rather than momentary, fixed rather than rained.
The sword from Christ's mouth fulfills Isaiah 11:4 LXX, the Messianic-judgment text: וְהִכָּה־אֶרֶץ בְּשֵׁבֶט פִּיו וּבְרוּחַ שְׂפָתָיו יָמִית רָשָׁע ('And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked'). Daniel 7:11 contributes the imagery of the beast's destruction: חָזֵה הֲוֵית עַד דִּי קְטִילַת חֵיוְתָא וְהוּבַד גִּשְׁמַהּ וִיהִיבַת לִיקֵדַת אֶשָּׁא ('I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire'). John's vision is Daniel's beast and Ezekiel's avian feast woven into a single eschatological tableau.
"Was seized" for ἐπιάσθη (epiasthē) — LSB chooses 'seized' rather than 'captured' or 'caught.' The verb piazō is the same verb used of arresting Jesus in John's Gospel; LSB's 'seized' preserves the criminal-arrest connotation. The beast who once attempted to seize Christ is now himself the one seized.
"Free men and slaves" for ἐλευθέρων τε καὶ δούλων (eleutherōn te kai doulōn) — LSB renders doulōn as 'slaves' even here, where the social-merism context might invite 'servants.' The consistent rendering preserves the Pauline-Revelational lexicon: doulos always means 'slave.' Note the te... kai construction (correlative 'both...and') is rendered with simple 'and' to keep English natural.
"Thrown alive" for ζῶντες ἐβλήθησαν (zōntes eblēthēsan) — LSB preserves the aorist passive force ('were thrown') with the present participle ('alive') rather than smoothing to 'cast alive.' The temporal force matters: the participle zōntes describes their state simultaneous with the aorist verb—they are alive at the moment of the throwing, not killed first and then thrown.
"Were filled" for ἐχορτάσθησαν (echortasthēsan) — LSB preserves the passive force ('were filled') rather than the active 'gorged themselves' or 'ate their fill.' The passive is significant: the birds did not satisfy their hunger by their own action; they were satisfied by what was provided. The same verb is used of the multitudes Jesus fed (Matthew 14:20; 15:37); the providential-feeding language is grimly inverted.