---
title: Revelation 5:13-14
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-5-13/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-5-13.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 5:13-14
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 5:13-14

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> **13** And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying:  “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!”
>
> **14** And the four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honour and the glory and the might forever and ever"
- NWT (2013 revision): "To the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honour and the glory and the might forever and ever"

## JW Usage

JWs read the doxology as kingly honour ultimately passing through Jesus to Jehovah — the Lamb is praised as God's appointed King, but worship itself belongs only to Jehovah. The Watchtower frames the praise of Revelation 5:12 as a list of regal attributes (power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory, blessing) given to Christ in his role as enthroned Mediator, not as deity.

## Protestant Usage

Verse 13 directs identical praise — blessing, honour, glory, might forever and ever — to "the One sitting on the throne AND to the Lamb" jointly. The Greek preposition is repeated for both: each is a distinct co-recipient. The seven-fold doxology of v.12 is functionally identical to the doxology directed at God in Revelation 7:12. And v.14 has the elders "fall down and worship" — even the NWT itself uses "worshipped" here rather than "do obeisance," precisely because the Lamb is named alongside the Father as the joint object of worship. The contrast with Revelation 22:8-9 (where an angel refuses proskuneō and redirects the worshipper to God) is decisive: faithful angels refuse worship, the Lamb accepts it without correction. Either the Lamb shares God's identity, or the greatest act of idolatry in the Bible takes place in God's own throne room with no rebuke.

## NWT Issue

In Revelation 5:13-14 the NWT preserves the joint doxology and uses "worshipped" in v.14 — but this creates an internal inconsistency with its own translation policy. When Jesus alone receives proskuneō (Matt 14:33, 28:9, 28:17; Jn 9:38; Heb 1:6) the NWT renders it "obeisance"; when he receives it alongside the Father in Revelation 5, the same word becomes "worship." The NWT cannot maintain its proskuneō dual standard here without obscuring the joint recipiency, so it surrenders the dual standard at the one point where the joint reception is unmistakable.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus Receives Worship](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/worship-of-jesus.md) — Hebrews 1:6 / Revelation 5:13–14 / Daniel 7:13–14 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Elohim Category Trap](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/elohim-category.md) — Psalm 82 — If Jesus Is 'a God,' Which Kind? [Deity of Christ]
- [The Law of Agency Doesn't Work](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/law-of-agency.md) — Agents Are Never Called God [Deity of Christ]
- [Whose Angel Is It? — God and Jesus Both Claim Ownership](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/rev22-whose-angel.md) — Revelation 22:6 / 22:16 [Deity of Christ]
- [Honour the Son Just As You Honour the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john5-equal-honour.md) — John 5:22-23 / Isaiah 42:8 / Revelation 5:13-14 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Lamb Receives Identical Worship to God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/revelation5-lamb-worship.md) — Revelation 5:12-14 / Revelation 22:8-9 / Isaiah 42:8 [Deity of Christ]
- [King of Kings and Lord of Lords](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/king-of-kings.md) — Revelation 19:16 — A title shared with Jehovah [Deity of Christ]
- [Proskuneo — Same Word, Different Translation](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/proskuneo-worship-obeisance.md) — Hebrews 1:6, Matthew 14:33, Revelation 5:14 [NWT Translation]
- [Tempted in Every Way — Yet Could Not Fail](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-tempted-yet-impeccable.md) — Hebrews 4:15 / James 1:13 [Deity of Christ]
- [David's Son, David's Lord](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm-110-my-lord.md) — Psalm 110:1 / Matthew 22:41-46 — the question Jesus asked that nobody could answer [Deity of Christ]