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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 15:3, great and marvelous are your works
The song's first line gathers phrases from Moses' warning of great and marvelous plagues and from psalms that praise God's great works.
Revelation 15:3, in every translation this tool compares.
A sports announcer can call a comeback amazing in words that old fans recognize from a famous broadcast. The singers open by calling God's works great and marvelous. Moses had warned Israel that disobedience would bring plagues on them like Egypt's, great and marvelous. Psalms praise God's great works and the wonders he does. John's line gathers those phrases into praise, just as the bowls of plagues are about to fall.
Two adjectives side by side, great (megala) and marvelous (thaumasta). The Greek of Deuteronomy 28:59 calls Israel's coming plagues great and marvelous (megalas kai thaumastas). Psalm 111:2 says the Lord's works are great, and Psalm 86:10 says God is great and does marvelous things.
In Deuteronomy the two words describe plagues; John applies them to God's works. In Deuteronomy the plagues fall on unfaithful Israel; in Revelation they fall on those who follow the beast. The psalms spread the two words across a verse, while John sets them in one short line. No single text has John's exact phrase, which is why the sources point to more than one.
The bowls about to fall are Egypt's plagues come again. By praising God's works as great and marvelous, the singers call those judgments right before they happen. Beale says the line shows God's acts as moral expressions of his character, not displays of raw power.
Not a quotation of one verse. The phrase is built from several, and the sources do not agree which one counts most.
Beale calls the first line an allusion to Deuteronomy 28:59-60 in the Greek translation, which predicts that Israel's future judgment will follow the pattern of the plagues on Egypt. He also hears Psalm 111:2-4, which praises the Lord's great works and wonders at the Red Sea, and notes that this psalm may itself recall Exodus 34:10 and Exodus 15:11, where God is marvelous in glories. Psalm 86:10 could also be included, he says, because verse 4 cites that psalm in full. He points out that Tobit 12:22 has wording even closer than any of these but does not refer to the exodus. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says the words come especially from Psalm 86:9-10, which itself evokes Exodus 15:11. Keener ties the great and wonderful works to the plagues of 15:1 and compares Exodus 15:11. The grade is drawn here: the pair of words is traceable to texts about the exodus, but no one source supplies it whole.
The sources name different sources for the line. Beale leads with Deuteronomy 28:59-60 and Psalm 111. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible leads with Psalm 86:10. Keener points to Exodus 15:11. Beale himself allows that the psalm cited in verse 4 may be what brought the phrase to mind.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 15:3b
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 15:3-4
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 15:3-4
- Septuagint, Deuteronomy 28:59, Psalm 111:2 and Psalm 86:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 15:3
