If 144,000 in Revelation is literal then why is the number in the Greek language in plural form?

by I_love_Jeff 6 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  I_love_Jeff

  thus indicating indefiniteness, THOUSANDS? see Rev. 5:11 and 7:4

  Strong G5505
  Original Word: χιλι?ς, ?δος, ?
  Part of Speech: Noun, Nom. Feminine PLURAL
  Transliteration: chilias

  Revelation 5:11 I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands (CHILIAS) of thousands; (WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

  Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of those sealed, (144 thousands (CHILIAS) were sealed out of all the tribes of the sons of Israel): (YLT)

  http://biblehub.com/topical/t/thousands.htm
  Cognate: 5505 xiliás (a feminine noun derived from 5507 /xílioi, "one thousand") - literally, "a thousand"; the cube of 10 (103); also used figuratively to express absolute inclusiveness (complete totality). See 5507 (xilioi).

  NAS Word Usage - Total: 22
  thousand 20, THOUSANDS 2
  http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/chilias.html

  In both verses, the word (chilias) being used is feminine PLURAL (THOUSANDS) . This means it is an exceptional usage which does denote a non-literal amount of time.
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  Splash

  I'm no Greek scholar, but my question would be:
  How else could this number (144,000) be properly written in Greek?

  Splash
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  Newly Enlightened

  Thank you. Nice catch! If you look it up in the 1969 Kingdom Interlinear it says basically the same thing.
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  I_love_Jeff

  The point I am trying to make is that the Book of Revelation is OPEN to interpretation. I made a rhyme lol. The question previous to this as well as this one DOES suggest interpretational freedom of MANY verses if not all.
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  hamsterbait

  Easy - more than ONE thousand, is a plural.

  In english we still used it until the 1950s: 36 millions. etc

  Winston Churchill in his History of WW2 always talks of millionS and thousandS, where modern usage no longer would.

  Ill wager greek was the same. As in MyriadS not " a myriad of myriad" just my two cents worth.

  HB
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  Vas

  Hamsterbait´s guess is right: 144 being more than 1, the only way to properly write this in both Ancient and Modern Greek is by using the plural (χιλι?δες = thousands). So, yes, we do say 144 thousands in Greek to refer to the number 144,000.

  Take Spanish, too: un millón, dos millones. etc. (only works for millions, not thousands in Spanish).

  You would normally rather indicate non-literal use either by repetition („myriads of myriads“ or „thousands of thousands“) or by using „myriads“ or „thousands“ alone, without specifying how many myriads or thousands.
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  Badfish

  In Spanish, it also works for hundreds, millions, billions, and trillions. For some reason, not for thousands.

  Two hundred = doscientos

  Two thousand = dos mil

  Two million = dos millones

  Two billion = dos mil millones

  Two trillion = dos billones