Tool Alpha
Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 14:5, no lie in their mouth
No lie found in their mouth joins Zephaniah's promise of a truthful remnant on Zion to Isaiah's servant, in whose mouth was no deceit.
Revelation 14:5, in every translation this tool compares.
Children who copy a parent's honesty show whose family they belong to. Zephaniah promises that the remnant on Zion will speak no lies, and no deceitful tongue will be found in their mouth. Isaiah says of the suffering servant that there was no deceit in his mouth. John says that among the 144,000 no lie was found in what they say. They share the truthfulness of the Lamb and of the faithful remnant.
Nothing false found in their mouth. John's en to stomati auton ouch heurethe matches the Greek of Zephaniah 3:13, in their mouth shall not be found. Isaiah 53:9 has the same verb and mouth.
Zephaniah has a deceitful tongue and Isaiah deceit; John has pseudos, lie. Zephaniah speaks of the remnant, Isaiah of one servant; John joins them. He adds that they are blameless, amomoi, a word for an unblemished sacrifice.
The redeemed are like the Lamb, faithful witnesses who do not lie. Beale says the point is innocence before the world's false charges, as with the servant. Wright says the dragon's system runs on lies, and the Lamb's people stand apart from it.
Not a claim to sinless perfection. Beale reads it as faithful witness and innocence of the world's charges, not moral flawlessness.
Beale calls the line an allusion to the servant of Isaiah 53:9, right after the lamb led to slaughter in 53:7, and also to Zephaniah 3, which he thinks may itself echo Isaiah 53. He sets out the Greek of both. Zephaniah 3:11-14 speaks of a remnant on God's holy mountain in Zion in the last days, as here. First Peter 2:22 uses Isaiah 53:9 the same way. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible and the CSB Study Bible point to Zephaniah 3:13; the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible to both; the ESV Study Bible and Wright to Isaiah 53:9. The grade is drawn here: the wording of Zephaniah is close and the remnant on Zion fits.
The study Bibles divide between Zephaniah and Isaiah as the main source. Beale holds both, with Zephaniah the closer wording. Keener reads the lie as including false doctrine.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-14-1-5\/","n":"Revelation 14:1-5, the Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion","s":"The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with 144,000 who bear his name and his Father's on their foreheads, singing a new song only they can learn. They have kept themselves pure, follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and are offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.","r":"Revelation 14:1-5"}
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 14:5
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:5
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 14:5
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:5
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 14:4-5
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 14:1-5
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 14:5
- Septuagint, Zephaniah 3:13 and Isaiah 53:9, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 14:5
