And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
A voice. So B; but 'Aleph (') A C read, 'as it were a voice.' The voice is heard 'in the midst of the four living creatures' (as Yahweh in the Shechinah cloud manifested His presence between the cherubim); because it is only in connection with His redeemed that God mitigates His judgments on the earth.
A measure - х choinix (G5518)] While making food scarce, do not make it so much so that a choenix (a day's provision of wheat, variously estimated at two or three pints) shall not be gotten "for a penny" [denarius, eight-and-a-half-pence of British money: probably the day's wages of the labourer]. Famine generally follows the sword. Ordinarily, from 16 to 20 measures were given for a denarius. A spiritual famine may be included (Amos 8:11). The "Come" of this third seal is said by the third of the four living creatures, whose likeness is a man: indicative of human sympathy for the sufferers. God in it tempers judgment with mercy. Compare Matthew 24:7, which foretells the very calamities in these seals: nation rising against nation (the sword), famines, pestilences (Revelation 6:8). and earthquakes (Revelation 6:12).
Three measures of barley for a penny - the cheaper and less nutritious grain, bought by the labourer who could not buy wheat for his family with his day's wages-a denarius-but barley.
See thou hurt not the oil and the wine - luxuries rather than necessaries. The oil and wine were to be spared for refreshment of the sufferers.