1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, 1 which God gave him to show his servants 2 what must happen very soon. 3 He made it clear 4 by sending his angel to his servant 5 John,
13:10 If anyone is meant for captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed by the sword, 25
then by the sword he must be killed.
This 26 requires steadfast endurance 27 and faith from the saints.
14:4 These are the ones who have not defiled themselves 35 with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb,
14:8 A 36 second 37 angel 38 followed the first, 39 declaring: 40 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city! 41 She made all the nations 42 drink of the wine of her immoral passion.” 43
22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access 48 to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates.
22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!” 49
1 tn The phrase ἀποκάλυψις ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (ajpokaluyi" Ihsou Cristou, “the revelation of Jesus Christ”) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (“the revelation about Jesus Christ”), subjective genitive (“the revelation from Jesus Christ”), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek, §§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). In 1:1 and 22:16 it is clear that Jesus has sent his angel to proclaim the message to John; thus the message is from Christ, and this would be a subjective genitive. On a broader scale, though, the revelation is about Christ, so this would be an objective genitive. One important point to note is that the phrase under consideration is best regarded as the title of the book and therefore refers to the whole of the work in all its aspects. This fact favors considering this as a plenary genitive.
2 tn Grk “slaves.” Although this translation frequently renders δοῦλος (doulos) as “slave,” the connotation is often of one who has sold himself into slavery; in a spiritual sense, the idea is that of becoming a slave of God or of Jesus Christ voluntarily. The voluntary notion is not conspicuous here; hence, the translation “servants.” In any case, the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
3 tn BDAG 992-93 s.v. τάχος has “quickly, at once, without delay Ac 10:33 D; 12:7; 17:15 D; 22:18; 1 Cl 48:1; 63:4…soon, in a short time…Rv 1:1; 22:6…shortly Ac 25:4.”
4 tn Or “He indicated it clearly” (L&N 33.153).
5 tn See the note on the word “servants” earlier in this verse.
6 sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.
7 tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”
8 tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).
9 tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”
11 tn Grk “The one who conquers, to him I will grant.”
12 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”
13 tn Grk “I will give [grant] to him.”
14 tn Or “have been victorious”; traditionally, “have overcome.”
16 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
17 tn The dative indirect object (αὐταῖς, autais) was converted into the subject (“they”) as this more closely approximates English usage. The following ἵ῞να (Jina) is taken as substantival, introducing a direct object clause. In this case, because it is reported speech, the ἵνα is similar to the declarative ὅτι (Joti).
18 tn Grk “men”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here of both men and women.
19 tn The article τῶν (twn) has been translated as a possessive pronoun here (ExSyn 215).
21 tn Grk “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel.”
22 tn The aorist ἐτελέσθη (etelesqh) has been translated as a proleptic (futuristic) aorist (ExSyn 564 cites this verse as an example).
23 tn The time of the action described by the aorist εὐηγγέλισεν (euhngelisen) seems to be past with respect to the aorist passive ἐτελέσθη (etelesqh). This does not require that the prophets in view here be OT prophets. They may actually refer to the martyrs in the church (so G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 129).
24 tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.
26 tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27 tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.
28 tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”
31 tc Many
32 tn On ὧδε (Jwde) here, BDAG 1101 s.v. 2 states: “a ref. to a present event, object, or circumstance, in this case, at this point, on this occasion, under these circumstances…in this case moreover 1 Cor 4:2. ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν…Rv 13:18; cf. 17:9. ὧδέ ἐστιν ἡ ὑπομονή…13:10; 14:12.”
33 tn Or “perseverance.”
36 tn Grk “and that no one be able to buy or sell.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Although the ἵνα (Jina) is left untranslated, the English conjunction “thus” is used to indicate that this is a result clause.
37 tn The word “things” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context. In the context of buying and selling, food could be primarily in view, but the more general “things” was used in the translation because the context is not specific.
38 tn Grk “except the one who had.”
39 tn Grk “his name or the number of his name.”
41 tn Grk “Here is wisdom.”
42 tn Grk “it is man’s number.” ExSyn 254 states “if ἀνθρώπου is generic, then the sense is, ‘It is [the] number of humankind.’ It is significant that this construction fits Apollonius’ Canon (i.e., both the head noun and the genitive are anarthrous), suggesting that if one of these nouns is definite, then the other is, too. Grammatically, those who contend that the sense is ‘it is [the] number of a man’ have the burden of proof on them (for they treat the head noun, ἀριθμός, as definite and the genitive, ἀνθρώπου, as indefinite – the rarest of all possibilities). In light of Johannine usage, we might also add Rev 16:18, where the Seer clearly uses the anarthrous ἄνθρωπος in a generic sense, meaning ‘humankind.’ The implications of this grammatical possibility, exegetically speaking, are simply that the number ‘666’ is the number that represents humankind. Of course, an individual is in view, but his number may be the number representing all of humankind. Thus the Seer might be suggesting here that the antichrist, who is the best representative of humanity without Christ (and the best counterfeit of a perfect man that his master, that old serpent, could muster), is still less than perfection (which would have been represented by the number seven).” See G. K. Beale, Revelation, [NIGTC], 723-24, who argues for the “generic” understanding of the noun; for an indefinite translation, see the ASV and ESV which both translate the clause as “it is the number of a man.”
43 tc A few
46 tn The aorist passive verb is rendered as a reflexive (“defiled themselves”) by BDAG 657 s.v. μολύνω 2.
51 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
52 tc There are several different variants comprising a textual problem involving “second” (δεύτερος, deuteros). First, several
53 tn Grk “And another angel, a second.”
54 tn The words “the first” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
55 tn For the translation of λέγω (legw) as “declare,” see BDAG 590 s.v. 2.e.
56 sn The fall of Babylon the great city is described in detail in Rev 18:2-24.
57 tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
58 tn Grk “of the wine of the passion of the sexual immorality of her.” Here τῆς πορνείας (th" porneia") has been translated as an attributive genitive. In an ironic twist of fate, God will make Babylon drink her own mixture, but it will become the wine of his wrath in retribution for her immoral deeds (see the note on the word “wrath” in 16:19).
56 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
57 tn Or “anger.”
61 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
62 tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.
66 tn Grk “so that there will be to them authority over the tree of life.”
71 tn On this expression BDAG 892 s.v. πρωϊνός states, “early, belonging to the morning ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ πρ. the morning star, Venus Rv 2:28; 22:16.”