Revelation 12:12

12:12 Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them!

But ¹  woe to the earth and the sea

because the devil has come down to you!

He ²  is filled with terrible anger,

for he knows that he only has a little time!”

Revelation 14:8

14:8 A ³  second ⁴  angel ⁵  followed the first, ⁶  declaring: ⁷  “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city! ⁸  She made all the nations ⁹  drink of the wine of her immoral passion.” ¹⁰ 

Revelation 14:10

14:10 that person ¹¹  will also drink of the wine of God’s anger ¹²  that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur ¹³  in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.

Revelation 14:19

14:19 So ¹⁴  the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard ¹⁵  of the earth and tossed them into the great ¹⁶  winepress of the wrath of God.

Revelation 15:1

The Final Plagues

15:1 Then ¹⁷  I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues ¹⁸  (they are final because in them God’s anger is completed).

Revelation 15:7

15:7 Then ¹⁹  one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath ²⁰  of God who lives forever and ever,

Revelation 16:1

The Bowls of God’s Wrath

16:1 Then ²¹  I heard a loud voice from the temple declaring to the seven angels: “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.” ²² 

Revelation 18:3

18:3 For all the nations ²³  have fallen ²⁴  from

the wine of her immoral passion, ²⁵ 

and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,

and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.” ²⁶ 

[12:12]  ¹ tn The word “But” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied. This is a case of asyndeton (lack of a connective).

[12:12]  ² tn Grk “and is filled,” a continuation of the previous sentence. Because English tends to use shorter sentences (especially when exclamations are involved), a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[14:8]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[14:8]  ⁴ tc There are several different variants comprising a textual problem involving “second” (δεύτερος, deuteros). First, several mss (A 1 2329 Ï^K) read “another, a second angel” (ἄλλος δεύτερος ἄγγελος, allo" deutero" angelo"). Second, other mss (Ì⁴⁷ א* 1006 1841 1854 pc) read just “another, a second” (ἄλλος δεύτερος). Third, the reading “another angel” (ἄλλος ἄγγελος) is supported by a few Greek mss and some versional evidence (69 pc ar vg). Fourth, several mss (א² [C reads δεύτερον instead of δεύτερος] 051 1611 2053 2344 Ï^A) support the reading “another, a second angel” (ἄλλος ἄγγελος δεύτερος). The reading that most likely gave rise to the others is the fourth. The first reading attempts to smooth out the grammar by placing the adjective in front of the noun. The second reading may have dropped out the “angel” on the basis of its similarity to “another” (ἄλλος). The third reading either intentionally or accidentally left out the word “second.” In any event, this is weakly attested and should not be given much consideration. (If, however, this reading had had good support, with “second” floating, and with “third” in the text in 14:9, one could possibly see δεύτερος as a motivated reading. But without sufficient support for the third reading, the one thing that is most certain is that δεύτερος was part of the original text here.) It is difficult to account for the rise of the other readings if “second” is not original. And the undisputed use of “third” (τρίτος, tritos) in 14:9 may be another indicator that the adjective “second” was in the original text. Finally, the fourth reading is the more difficult and therefore, in this case, to be accepted as the progenitor of the others.

[14:8]  ⁵ tn Grk “And another angel, a second.”

[14:8]  ⁶ 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.

[14:8]  ⁷ tn For the translation of λέγω (legw) as “declare,” see BDAG 590 s.v. 2.e.

[14:8]  ⁸ sn The fall of Babylon the great city is described in detail in Rev 18:2-24.

[14:8]  ⁹ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[14:8]  ¹⁰ 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).

[14:10]  ⁵ tn Grk “he himself.”

[14:10]  ⁶ tn The Greek word for “anger” here is θυμός (qumos), a wordplay on the “passion” (θυμός) of the personified city of Babylon in 14:8.

[14:10]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[14:19]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s directions.

[14:19]  ⁸ 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”).

[14:19]  ⁹ 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).

[15:1]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[15:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “seven plagues – the last ones.”

[15:7]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[15:7]  ¹² tn Or “anger.”

[16:1]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[16:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “anger.” Here τοῦ θυμοῦ (tou qumou) has been translated as a genitive of content.

[18:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[18:3]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ Several mss (א A C 1006* 1611 1841 2030 Ï^K), including the best witnesses, read “have fallen” (πεπτώκασιν or πέπτωκαν [peptwkasin or peptwkan]). The singular πέπτωκεν (peptwken), which is better grammatically with the neuter plural subject πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (panta ta eqnh, “all the nations”), is read by 1854 2062 pc; 2042 pc read πεπότικεν (pepotiken). A few mss (1006^c 2329 pc latt sy^h) read “have drunk” (πέπωκαν/πεπώκασιν, pepwkan/pepwkasin); the singular πέπωκεν (pepwken) is read by P 051 1 2053* al. The more difficult reading and that which has the best ms support is “have fallen.” That it is not too difficult is evidenced by the fact that the great majority of Byzantine minuscules, which have a tendency to smooth out problems, left it stand as is. Nonetheless, it is somewhat difficult (TCGNT 683 says that this reading is “scarcely suitable in the context”), and for that reason certain mss seem to have changed it to “have drunk” to agree with the idea of “wine” (οἴνου, oinou). One can understand how this could happen: A scribe coming to the text and seeing the term “wine” expects a verb of drinking. When he sees “have fallen” and knows that in Greek the verbs “have fallen” and “have drunk” are spelled similarly, he concludes that there has been a slip of the pen in the ms he is using, which he then seeks to correct back to the “have drunk” reading. This appears to be more reasonable than to conclude that three early uncials (i.e., א A C) as well as a great number of other witnesses all felt the need to change “have drunk” (πέπωκαν) to “have fallen” (πέπτωκαν), even if “fallen” occurs in the immediate context (“fallen, fallen, [ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν, epesen epesen] Babylon the great” in the preceding verse). The preferred reading, on both external and internal grounds, is “have fallen,” and thus the Seer intends to focus on the effects of wine, namely, a drunken stupor.

[18:3]  ¹⁷ tn See the notes on the words “passion” in Rev 14:8 and “wrath” in 16:19.

[18:3]  ¹⁸ tn According to BDAG 949 s.v. στρῆνος and στρηνιάω, these terms can refer either to luxury or sensuality. In the context of Rev 18, however (as L&N 88.254 indicate) the stress is on gratification of the senses by sexual immorality, so that meaning was emphasized in the translation here.