The ten horns … are ten kings who have not yet received royal power: these are ten men who will in the future become kings. These are not the same kind of kings as those represented by the seven heads; these are kings of ten different countries who will rule at the same time. The Greek “they receive authority as kings” does not indicate who will give them this authority. It is doubtful that divine activity is implied. The ten kings will rule for a very short time (one hour) and be under the control of the beast. And they will be destroyed when he is destroyed (19.19-21). Hour: in languages that do not talk about a precise period of sixty minutes, one may say “a very short period of time” or “the length of time it takes to…” (filling in some activity like cooking brown rice and so on).

An alternative translation model for this verse in languages that do not use the passive is:

• The ten horns that you saw represent ten kings who have not yet begun to rule, but they will receive authority (or, power) to rule as kings for one hour (or, very short period of time) with the beast.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .