The Jewish Annotated New Testament (306 page)

16.1
–21: The seven bowls.
As in enumerations of the plagues on the Egyptians in Ex 7–12 and subsequent “aggadic” versions (as in the Haggadah of Pesach), the vindictive details offer readers both joy in the downfall of the unrighteous and warning to endure among the righteous. These plagues are only loosely based on those in Exodus (cf. Ezek 38.19–22), though it is noteworthy that Ps 78 and 105 likely depict seven plagues as well.

2
:
Sore
, cf. Ex 9.8–12.
Mark
, see 13.16–17.

3
–4
:
Blood
, cf. 8.8–9; Ex 7.14–24.

5
:
Angel of the waters
, see 7.1–2, angels in control of the winds; 14.18, angel in control of fire. In
1 En
. 60.10–20, various angels have charge of natural phenomena.

6
:
Blood to drink
, Ezek 39.19; cf. Rev 17.6.

7
: As in 9.13, the
altar
(lit., “one from the altar”) blesses God. In the Qumran Sabbath hymns, every part of the furniture of the heavenly temple participates in liturgy (4QShirShabb
^f
).

9
: As with all the plagues, the suffering multitudes do not praise the God of judgment but curse him (cf. 9.20–21; 16.11,21).

10
:
Throne of the beast
, 13.2.
Darkness
, cf. 8.12; Ex 10.21.

12
: Drying of the
Euphrates
achieves the reverse of the Red Sea crossing in Ex 14.21–15.19, for it allows the invasion of
kings from the east
, as many apocalyptic texts imagined in end-time scenarios (
1 En
. 56;
Sib. Or
. 4.137–39;
6 Ezra
15.28–45).

13
: If inspired by Ex 8.1–15, John reconceptualizes
frogs
as the form taken by the demonic spirits of false prophecy (hence false thaumaturgy, v. 14).
Dragon
, 12.3. Concern for the
false prophet
goes back to Deut 18.20–22 and preoccupied the early Jesus Movement (e.g., Mk 13.22; 2 Cor 11.13–15; 1 Jn 4.1–3).

14
:
Signs
, see 13.3.

15
:
Like a thief
, A prophetic oracle, in the voice of the risen Christ (see 3.30; Mt 24.42–43), here displays true prophecy (cf. Mk 13.11b). The abruptness of the oracle resembles those in ch 22.

16
:
Harmagedon
is probably biblical Megiddo, though this place has no parallels as an eschatological battlefield. The focus on a mountain (Heb “har”) as site of eschatological war resembles traditions in Ezekiel (38.8; 39.2,4) and
4 Ezra
(13.34–35).

19
:
Great city
, Rome, here called
Babylon
.
Wine-cup
, see 14.10.

21
:
Hailstones
, Ex 9.13–35; Ps 18.13; Wis 5.22.

17.1
–19.6: Vision and destruction of the great whore Babylon.
In counterpoint to the pregnant woman (ch 12), this spectacle of an alluring but perverse whore (Gk “pornē”), “Babylon,” is inspired by the description of the two lustful sisters, Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Jerusalem), in Ezek 23. John means this figure to represent Rome (17.2a,9), but the emphasis on her “fornication” (Gk “porneia”) allows this figure to refract broader issues of purity and the body (cf. 2.20–22; 14.4; 22.15).

17.1
–6:
Her image.

1
:
On many waters
suggests the enthronement of Canaanite gods.

2
:
Wine … drunk
, see 14.20n.; 16.6.

3
–4
:
In the spirit
, in an ecstatic state (cf. 1.10; 4.2).
Purple and scarlet
, members of the Roman senate wore these colors. Her “throne” becomes a beast identical to the Satan-dragon of 12.3, signifying the diabolical power behind her authority; her attire suggests success in seduction (unlike the shameful nakedness of Oholah and Oholibah in Ezek 23.1,10,18,29, etc.).
Heads and … horns
, see 12.3. The
cup
recalls the cup of “derision and scorn” handed to Oholibah (Ezek 23.31–34), here transformed into a symbol of liquid impurities, the flows of fornication (cf. Lev 15; Deut 23.10).

5
:
written a name
, as with those imprinted with the Lamb and beast’s marks, the name on her forehead pertains to her fate as well as her identity (cf. 9.9; 14.11). Alternately, this “name” can resemble a brand with which Roman criminals and slaves were marked.

6
:
Drunk with the blood of the saints
casts the “pornē” as a cannibalistic monster and extends the “impurities” in her cup to blood, inverting one of the main points of “kashrut” (Gen 9.4–6; Lev 7.26–27; 17.10–14).

17.7
–18:
Her interpretation.

7
: As with many Jewish and Christian apocalyptic visions, the strange concatenation of figures and attributes constitutes a
mystery
that an angel must decode (e.g., Dan 8.15–25;
4 Ezra
12.3–35;
2 Bar
. 55–56.2).

8
:
Was, and is not, and is about to ascend
, a threefold temporal status parodying the threefold temporal status of God (cf. 1.4,8; 4.8; etc.).
Bottomless pit
, see 9.1.
Book of life
, see 3.5n.

9
:
Mind that has wisdom
suggests that here the symbolism makes a direct translation to something in the real world (similar codes appear in Dan 7–8 and
4 Ezra
12).
Seven mountains
, usually identified with the city of Rome.
Seven kings
, likely Roman emperors, although scholars disagree on which are meant.

11
:
Was and is not
, see v. 8.

14
: The text supposes that Roman political history culminates in eschatological
war
against the Lamb, here awarded traditional messianic titles, and his followers (
1 En
. 9.4; cf. Rev 19.16). This vision of eschatological war does not necessarily replicate that in 16.14–16.

16
–17
: As in Ezekiel’s story of Oholah and Oholibah, vengeance on the
whore
is performed by her lovers, who begin by stripping her
naked
(cf. Ezek 23.10,25–26,29) to condemn sexually the body that had been sexually alluring. Rather than being stabbed or stoned to death (cf. Ezek 23.10,47), this whore is devoured and burned (the punishment for sexual crimes, Gen 38.24; Lev 21.9).

17
:
Put it into their hearts
, in turning against the whore, even such an evil beast as the Satan-dragon is supposed to serve God’s purpose.

18.1
–19.6: Lament over the whore.
This multivoiced dirge over the destruction of the whore Babylon/Rome is inspired by biblical taunt-songs, wherein a kingdom’s past glories are rehearsed to sharpen the description of its downfall (see esp. Isa 14; 47; and Jer 30–31 on Babylon; cf. Isa 23; Ezek 26–27 on Tyre).

18.1
–8: Hymn against Babylon
.

2
:
Demons
, believed to inhabit desolate cities, Isa 13.21–22; 34.14; Jer 9.11; 10.22; 51.37; Lam 5.18.

3
:
Wine … fornication
, see 14.8.

4
: Echoing Jer 51.45, John transmits a call to his readers to separate themselves from Babylon/Rome for their own safety.

5
:
Remembered her iniquities
, see Ezra 9.6 for similar hyperbole.

6
:
Render to her
…
repay her double
, see Isa 40.2.

7
: Personified Babylon/Rome gives a “hubris soliloquy,” a prophetic form in which a great political power trumpets its infallibility to make the downfall seem the more ironic: cf. Isa 14.12–14; Ezek 28.2.

18.9
–19: Mourning destroyed Babylon.
Narrative digressions to the spectacle of the whore’s burning body and the misery of those who loved her punctuate the dirge (also vv. 11,15,17b–18a).

9
:
Alas, alas
, see Zech 2.10; see also vv. 16,19 below.

11
–19
: The precious trade-goods and attention to maritime merchants echo Ezekiel’s dirge over Tyre (ch 27).

16
:
Purple and scarlet
, see 17.4n.

17
:
Shipmasters and seafarers
, see 17.15n.

19
:
Dust on their heads
, an indication of mourning (Ezek 27.30; Job 2.12).

18.20
–24:
Hymnic response to Babylon’s destruction.

21
: This symbolic action reflects an ancient performative idiom by which prophets would demonstrate God’s plans, cf. Jer 27–28; 51.63–64.

22
: Jer 25.10; Ezek 26.13; Lam 5.14–15.

23
:
Sorcery
[“pharmakeia”] is not meant metaphorically; protective rituals were part of state ceremony in biblical times (cf. Isa 47.9, where God overrides Babylon’s sorceries), while unauthorized sorcery was a chief subversive crime in the Roman empire; for John, sorcery constituted the sorts of impure practices that demonic forces introduced to the world through fornication (with which sorcery is often paired):
1 En
. 8–9; cf. 2 Kings 9.22; Rev 21.8; 22.15.