Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ¹  woman ²  Jezebel, ³  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ⁴  my servants ⁵  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ⁶ 

Revelation 12:17

12:17 So ⁷  the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, ⁸  those who keep ⁹  God’s commandments and hold to ¹⁰  the testimony about Jesus. ¹¹  (12:18) And the dragon ¹²  stood ¹³  on the sand ¹⁴  of the seashore. ¹⁵ 

Revelation 15:8

15:8 and the temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and from his power. Thus ¹⁶  no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues from the seven angels were completed.

Revelation 16:19

16:19 The ¹⁷  great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations ¹⁸  collapsed. ¹⁹  So ²⁰  Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup ²¹  filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath. ²² 

[2:20]  ¹ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

[2:20]  ² tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

[2:20]  ³ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

[2:20]  ⁴ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

[2:20]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[2:20]  ⁶ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.

[12:17]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the woman’s escape.

[12:17]  ⁸ tn Grk “her seed” (an idiom for offspring, children, or descendants).

[12:17]  ⁹ tn Or “who obey.”

[12:17]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and having.”

[12:17]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the testimony of Jesus,” which may involve a subjective genitive (“Jesus’ testimony”) or, more likely, an objective genitive (“testimony about Jesus”).

[12:17]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the dragon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:17]  ¹³ tc Grk ἐστάθη (estaqh, “he stood”). The reading followed by the translation is attested by the better mss (Ì⁴⁷ א A C 1854 2344 2351 pc lat sy^h) while the majority of mss (051 Ï vg^mss sy^ph co) have the reading ἐστάθην (estaqhn, “I stood”). Thus, the majority of mss make the narrator, rather than the dragon of 12:17, the subject of the verb. The first person reading is most likely an assimilation to the following verb in 13:1, “I saw.” The reading “I stood” was introduced either by accident or to produce a smoother flow, giving the narrator a vantage point on the sea’s edge from which to observe the beast rising out of the sea in 13:1. But almost everywhere else in the book, the phrase καὶ εἶδον (kai eidon, “and I saw”) marks a transition to a new vision, without reference to the narrator’s activity. On both external and internal grounds, it is best to adopt the third person reading, “he stood.”

[12:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “sandy beach” (L&N 1.64).

[12:17]  ¹⁵ sn The standard critical texts of the Greek NT, NA²⁷ and UBS⁴, both include this sentence as 12:18, as do the RSV and NRSV. Other modern translations like the NASB and NIV include the sentence at the beginning of 13:1; in these versions chap. 12 has only 17 verses.

[15:8]  ¹³ tn Grk “power, and no one.” A new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the temple being filled with smoke.

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

[16:19]  ²⁰ tn Or “of the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[16:19]  ²¹ tn Grk “fell.”

[16:19]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Babylon’s misdeeds (see Rev 14:8).

[16:19]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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.