21:10 O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor, 1
what I have heard
from the Lord who commands armies,
the God of Israel,
I have reported to you.
3:12 Let the nations be roused and let them go up
to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.
3:13 Rush forth with 2 the sickle, for the harvest is ripe!
Come, stomp the grapes, 3 for the winepress is full!
The vats overflow.
Indeed, their evil is great! 4
14:1 A day of the Lord 5 is about to come when your possessions 6 will be divided as plunder in your midst. 14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem 7 to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. 8
14:3 Then the Lord will go to battle 9 and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. 10
14:14 Then 14 I looked, and a white cloud appeared, 15 and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man! 16 He had 17 a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 14:15 Then 18 another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use 19 your sickle and start to reap, 20 because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!” 14:16 So 21 the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
14:17 Then 22 another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 14:18 Another 23 angel, who was in charge of 24 the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel 25 who had the sharp sickle, “Use 26 your sharp sickle and gather 27 the clusters of grapes 28 off the vine of the earth, 29 because its grapes 30 are now ripe.” 31 14:19 So 32 the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard 33 of the earth and tossed them into the great 34 winepress of the wrath of God. 14:20 Then 35 the winepress was stomped 36 outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles 37 for a distance of almost two hundred miles. 38
1 tn Heb “My trampled one, and the son of the threshing floor.”
2 tn Heb “send.”
3 tn Heb “go down” or “tread.” The Hebrew term רְדוּ (rÿdu) may be from יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) or from רָדָה (radah, “have dominion,” here in the sense of “to tread”). If it means “go down,” the reference would be to entering the vat to squash the grapes. If it means “tread,” the verb would refer specifically to the action of those who walk over the grapes to press out their juice. The phrase “the grapes” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 sn The immediacy of judgment upon wickedness is likened to the urgency required for a harvest that has reached its pinnacle of development. When the harvest is completely ripe, there can be no delay by the reapers in gathering the harvest. In a similar way, Joel envisions a time when human wickedness will reach such a heightened degree that there can be no further stay of divine judgment (cf. the “fullness of time” language in Gal 4:4).
5 sn The eschatological day of the
6 tn Heb “your plunder.” Cf. NCV “the wealth you have taken.”
7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8 tn Heb “not be cut off from the city” (so NRSV); NAB “not be removed.”
9 sn The statement the
10 tn Heb “as he fights on a day of battle” (similar NASB, NIV, NRSV).
11 sn A winnowing fork is a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blows away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.
12 tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building for housing livestock).
13 sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
15 tn Grk “and behold, a white cloud.”
16 tn This phrase constitutes an allusion to Dan 7:13. Concerning υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (Juio" tou anqrwpou), BDAG 1026 s.v. υἱός 2.d.γ says: “ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου lit. ‘the son of the man’…‘the human being, the human one, the man’…On Israelite thought contemporary w. Jesus and alleged knowledge of a heavenly being looked upon as a ‘Son of Man’ or ‘Man’, who exercises Messianic functions such as judging the world (metaph., pictorial passages in En 46-48; 4 Esdr 13:3, 51f)…Outside the gospels: Ac 7:56…Rv 1:13; 14:14 (both after Da 7:13…).” The term “son” here in this expression is anarthrous and as such lacks specificity. Some commentators and translations take the expression as an allusion to Daniel 7:13 and not to “the son of man” found in gospel traditions (e.g., Mark 8:31; 9:12; cf. D. E. Aune, Revelation [WBC], 2:800-801; cf. also NIV). Other commentators and versions, however, take the phrase “son of man” as definite, involving allusions to Dan 7:13 and “the son of man” gospel traditions (see G. K. Beale, Revelation [NIGTC], 771-72; NRSV).
17 tn Grk “like a son of man, having.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence.
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
19 tn Grk “Send out.”
20 tn The aorist θέρισον (qerison) has been translated ingressively.
21 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s directions.
22 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
23 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
24 tn Grk “who had authority over.” This appears to be the angel who tended the fire on the altar.
25 tn Grk “to the one having the sharp sickle”; the referent (the angel in v. 17) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 tn Grk “Send.”
27 tn On this term BDAG 1018 s.v. τρυγάω states: “‘gather in’ ripe fruit, esp. harvest (grapes) w. acc. of the fruit (POslo. 21, 13 [71 ad]; Jos., Ant. 4, 227) Lk 6:44; Rv 14:18 (in imagery, as in the foll. places)…W. acc. of that which bears the fruit gather the fruit of the vine…or the vineyard (s. ἄμπελος a) Rv 14:19.”
28 tn On this term BDAG 181 s.v. βότρυς states, “bunch of grapes Rv 14:18…The word is also found in the Phrygian Papias of Hierapolis, in a passage in which he speaks of the enormous size of the grapes in the new aeon (in the Lat. transl. in Irenaeus 5, 33, 2f.): dena millia botruum Papias (1:2). On this see Stephan. Byz. s.v. Εὐκαρπία: Metrophanes says that in the district of Εὐκαρπία in Phrygia Minor the grapes were said to be so large that one bunch of them caused a wagon to break down in the middle.”
29 tn The genitive τῆς γῆς (ths ghs), taken symbolically, could be considered a genitive of apposition.
30 tn Or perhaps, “its bunches of grapes” (a different Greek word from the previous clause). L&N 3.38 states, “the fruit of grapevines (see 3.27) – ‘grape, bunch of grapes.’ τρύγησον τοὺς βότρυας τῆς ἀμπέλου τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἤκμασαν αἱ σταφυλαὶ αὐτῆς ‘cut the grapes from the vineyard of the earth because its grapes are ripe’ Re 14:18. Some scholars have contended that βότρυς means primarily a bunch of grapes, while σταφυλή designates individual grapes. In Re 14:18 this difference might seem plausible, but there is scarcely any evidence for such a distinction, since both words may signify grapes as well as bunches of grapes.”
31 tn On the use of ἥκμασαν (hkmasan) BDAG 36 s.v. ἀκμάζω states, “to bloom…of grapes…Rv 14:18.”
32 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s directions.
33 tn Or “vine.” BDAG 54 s.v. ἄμπελος a states, “τρυγᾶν τοὺς βότρυας τῆς ἀ. τῆς γῆς to harvest the grapes fr. the vine of the earth (i.e. fr. the earth, symbol. repr. as a grapevine) Rv 14:18f; but ἀ may be taking on the meaning of ἀμπελών, as oft. in pap., possibly PHib. 70b, 2 [III bc].” The latter alternative has been followed in the translation (ἀμπελών = “vineyard”).
34 tn Although the gender of μέγαν (megan, masc.) does not match the gender of ληνόν (lhnon, fem.) it has been taken to modify that word (as do most English translations).
35 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
36 sn The winepress was stomped. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process).
37 tn L&N 6.7 states, “In Re 14:20 the reference to a bit and bridle is merely an indication of measurement, that is to say, the height of the bit and bridle from the ground, and one may reinterpret this measurement as ‘about a meter and a half’ or ‘about five feet.’”
38 tn Grk “1,600 stades.” A stade was a measure of length about 607 ft (185 m). Thus the distance here would be 184 mi or 296 km.