Revelation 16:18-21

16:18 Then ¹  there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ²  and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity ³  has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake. 16:19 The ⁴  great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations ⁵  collapsed. ⁶  So ⁷  Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup ⁸  filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath. ⁹  16:20 Every ¹⁰  island fled away ¹¹  and no mountains could be found. ¹²  16:21 And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds ¹³  each, fell from heaven ¹⁴  on people, ¹⁵  but they ¹⁶  blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it ¹⁷  was so horrendous. ¹⁸ 

[16:18]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[16:18]  ² tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

[16:18]  ³ tn The singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used generically here to refer to the human race.

[16:19]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:19]  ⁵ tn Or “of the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[16:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “fell.”

[16:19]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Babylon’s misdeeds (see Rev 14:8).

[16:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “the cup of the wine of the anger of the wrath of him.” The concatenation of four genitives has been rendered somewhat differently by various translations (see the note on the word “wrath”).

[16:19]  ⁹ tn Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumo") and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9). Thus in Rev 14:8 (to which the present passage alludes) and 18:3 there is irony: The wine of immoral behavior with which Babylon makes the nations drunk becomes the wine of God’s wrath for her.

[16:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And every.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “vanished.”

[16:20]  ¹² sn Every island fled away and no mountains could be found. Major geographical and topographical changes will accompany the Day of the Lord.

[16:21]  ¹³ tn Here BDAG 988 s.v. ταλαντιαῖος states, “weighing a talent…χάλαζα μεγάλη ὡς ταλαντιαία a severe hailstorm with hailstones weighing a talent (the talent=125 librae, or Roman pounds of c. 343 gr. or 12 ounces each) (weighing about a hundred pounds NRSV) Rv 16:21.” This means each hailstone would weigh just under 100 pounds or 40 kilograms.

[16:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the sky.” Due to the apocalyptic nature of this book, it is probably best to leave the translation as “from heaven,” since God is ultimately the source of the judgment.

[16:21]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “on men,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a generic sense to refer to people in general (the hailstones did not single out adult males, but would have also fallen on women and children).

[16:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the men”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun “they” is used here.

[16:21]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the plague of it.”

[16:21]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “since the plague of it was exceedingly great.”