Men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations: see the same list in 5.9, in which the same four words appear, but not in the same order.

Gaze: the word means simply “look at,” “see.” As Revised Standard Version shows, the Greek text has the verb in the present tense; this continues through verse 10a, and at “they will exchange presents” the future tense appears once more. At verse 11 the past tense is used. It is difficult to account for these changes of verb tense; the main thing for a translation to do is to use the appropriate tense in the context of the narrative as a whole.

Be placed in a tomb: a dead person was usually buried the same day that death occurred, or within twenty-four hours at the most. Where a burial does not involve a grave or a tomb, the normal way to refer to being buried should be used. If cremation is the normal way of disposing of dead bodies, it seems advisable to say something that fits better the biblical context. Another way of expressing this clause is “and will not let anyone take the corpses and bury them.”

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 .