Verse 17 proclaims the success of the kingdom in a singing throng, opposite to the mourning tribes of chapter 1:7 and Matthew 24:30. It was the answer to the souls under the altar of chapter 6:9-11. God had taken to thee thy great power, exercised in the events of the visions--and hast reigned. He had ruled and overruled, as absolute monarch of the world, governing and disposing of all things in heaven and in earth, as affirmed by prophets of, old. (2 Samuel 5:4-5; Psalms 93:1)