Revelation 11:1

The Fate of the Two Witnesses

11:1 Then ¹  a measuring rod ²  like a staff was given to me, and I was told, ³  “Get up and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the ones who worship there.

Revelation 16:15

16:15 (Look! I will come like a thief!

Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose ⁴  his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition ⁵  be seen.) ⁶ 

[11:1]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[11:1]  ² tn Grk “a reed” (but these were used for measuring). Cf. Ezek 40:3ff.

[11:1]  ³ tn Grk “saying.”

[16:15]  ⁴ tn Grk “and keeps.” BDAG 1002 s.v. τηρέω 2.c states “of holding on to someth. so as not to give it up or lose it…τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ Rv 16:15 (or else he will have to go naked).”

[16:15]  ⁵ tn On the translation of ἀσχημοσύνη (aschmosunh) as “shameful condition” see L&N 25.202. The indefinite third person plural (“and they see”) has been translated as a passive here.

[16:15]  ⁶ sn These lines are parenthetical, forming an aside to the narrative. The speaker here is the Lord Jesus Christ himself rather than the narrator. Many interpreters have seen this verse as so abrupt that it could not be an original part of the work, but the author has used such asides before (1:7; 14:13) and the suddenness here (on the eve of Armageddon) is completely parallel to Jesus’ warning in Mark 13:15-16 and parallels.