What does the phrase “salvation, and glory, and power, belong to the Lord our God” mean in Revelation 19:1?

Question

What does the phrase "salvation, and glory, and power, belong to the Lord our God" mean in Revelation 19:1?

Most translations seem to render the text as "belong to our God":

http://biblehub.com/revelation/19-1.htm

Rev 19:1 W-H Μετὰ ταῦτα ἤκουσα ὡς φωνὴν μεγάλην ὄχλου πολλοῦ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ λεγόντων Ἁλληλουϊά· ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν,

The LXX has a similar construction:

Psa 3:8 Deliverance is the Lord's, and thy blessing is upon thy people.

Psa 3:8 (3:9) τοῦ κυρίου ἡ σωτηρία, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου ἡ εὐλογία σου.

Does "salvation belongs to our God" mean something to the effect of "it is God's responsibility to save"? Or, "Only God is able to save"?

And if so, do these translations more accurately (not in form, but in meaning) convey the Greek?

"Salvation" seems to beg to be treated a little different from the other referents. Is there a rendering that makes sense for all three of the referents ("salvation, and glory, and power")?

Answer 1

The NIV is typical, and it translates Revelation 19.1 thus:

"After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God…"

If we translated the words that are shouted literally, we would have this:

"After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! The salvation and the glory and the power of our God."

As a complete sentence, this is bad English, so the translators are looking for an equivalent English idiom. Phrases such as "belongs to our God" or "comes from our God" are efforts to express in natural English the Greek genitive "of God". What the Greek is saying is that salvation, glory, power are the possession of God. The Greek sentence is elliptical, missing the verb. It is to be understood as "The salvation and glory and power [are (the salvation etc)] of our God."

What then does the sentence mean? It will have the range of meanings naturally associated with the genitive case, such as:

"Salvation etc have their origins in God."

"Salvation etc are properly associated with God."

"Salvation etc are supplied by God."