9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, 1
by other humans 2
must his blood be shed;
for in God’s image 3
God 4 has made humankind.”
16:6 because they poured out the blood of your saints and prophets,
so 17 you have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved!” 18
1 tn Heb “the blood of man.”
2 tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.
3 sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn The two verbs in the temporal clauses are by וְהָיָה כַּאֲשֶׁר (vÿhaya ka’asher, “as long as” or, “and it was that whenever”). This indicates that the two imperfect tenses should be given a frequentative translation, probably a customary imperfect.
6 tn Or “lower.”
7 tn Heb “came down.”
8 tn The verb used here means “crush by beating,” or “pounded” them. The Greek text used “cut them in pieces.”
9 tn The name “Hormah” means “destruction”; it is from the word that means “ban, devote” for either destruction or temple use.
10 tn Grk “as.”
11 tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”
12 tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.
13 tn Or “in the same way as.”
14 tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.
15 tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”
16 tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.
17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that this judgment is the result of what these wicked people did to the saints and prophets.
18 tn Grk “They are worthy”; i.e., of this kind of punishment. By extension, “they got what they deserve.”
19 tn The word “others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
20 tn On this term BDAG 252 s.v. διπλόω states, “to double τὰ διπλᾶ pay back double Rv 18:6.”