Revelation 8:13

Context
8:13 Then¹ I looked, and I heard an² eagle³ flying directly overhead,⁴ proclaiming with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!”⁵

Revelation 11:14

Context

11:14 The second woe has come and gone;⁶ the third is coming quickly.

Revelation 16:17--17:1

Context

16:17 Finally⁷ the seventh angel⁸ poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: “It is done!” 16:18 Then⁹ there were flashes of lightning, roaring,¹⁰ and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity¹¹ has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake. 16:19 The¹² great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations¹³ collapsed.¹⁴ So¹⁵ Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup¹⁶ filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath.¹⁷ 16:20 Every¹⁸ island fled away¹⁹ and no mountains could be found.²⁰ 16:21 And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds²¹ each, fell from heaven²² on people,²³ but they²⁴ blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it²⁵ was so horrendous.²⁶

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17:1 Then²⁷ one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me.²⁸ “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment²⁹ of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

[8:13] ¹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[8:13] ²tn Grk “one eagle.”

[8:13] ³tc Ï^A reads “angel” (ἀγγέλου, angelou) instead of “eagle” (ἀετοῦ, aetou), a reading strongly supported by {א A 046 Ï^K and several versions}. On external grounds, ἀετοῦ is clearly the superior reading. ἀγγέλου could have arisen inadvertently due to similarities in spelling or sound between ἀετοῦ and ἀγγέλου. It may also have been intentional in order to bring this statement in line with 14:6 where an angel is mentioned as the one flying in midair. This seems a more likely reason, strengthened by the facts that the book only mentions eagles two other times (4:7; 12:14). Further, the immediate as well as broad context is replete with references to angels.

[8:13] ⁴tn Concerning the word μεσουράνημα (mesouranhma), L&N 1.10 states, “a point or region of the sky directly above the earth – ‘high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.’ εἶδον, καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἁετοῦ πετομένου ἐν μεσουρανήματι ‘I looked, and I heard an eagle that was flying overhead in the sky’ Re 8:13.”

[8:13] ⁵tn Grk “about to sound their trumpets,” but this is redundant in English.

[11:14] ⁶tn Grk “has passed.”

[16:17] ⁷tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “finally” to indicate the conclusion of the seven bowl judgments.

[16:17] ⁸tn Grk “the seventh”; the referent (the seventh angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:18] ⁹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[16:18] ¹⁰tn 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] ¹¹tn The singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used generically here to refer to the human race.

[16:19] ¹²tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:19] ¹³tn Or “of the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[16:19] ¹⁴tn Grk “fell.”

[16:19] ¹⁵tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Babylon’s misdeeds (see Rev 14:8).

[16:19] ¹⁶tn 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] ¹⁷tn 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] ¹⁸tn Grk “And every.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:20] ¹⁹tn Or “vanished.”

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

[16:21] ²¹tn 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] ²²tn 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] ²³tn 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] ²⁴tn Grk “the men”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun “they” is used here.

[16:21] ²⁵tn Grk “the plague of it.”

[16:21] ²⁶tn Grk “since the plague of it was exceedingly great.”

[17:1] ²⁷tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:1] ²⁸tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.”

[17:1] ²⁹tn Here one Greek term, κρίμα (krima), has been translated by the two English terms “condemnation” and “punishment.” See BDAG 567 s.v. 4.b, “mostly in an unfavorable sense, of the condemnatory verdict and sometimes the subsequent punishment itself 2 Pt 2:3; Jd 4…τὸ κ. τῆς πόρνης the condemnation and punishment of the prostitute Rv 17:1.”