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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 18:16, clothed in linen, purple and scarlet; woe, woe
The merchants' double woe over the city dressed in linen, purple, scarlet, gold and jewels draws on Ezekiel's pictures of adorned Tyre and adorned, unfaithful Jerusalem.
Revelation 18:16, in every translation this tool compares.
A designer label means little once the store is boarded up. Ezekiel described Jerusalem dressed by God in fine linen, gold and silver, before she trusted her beauty and turned to harlotry, and then cried woe, woe over her. He pictured Tyre's king covered in every precious stone. John's merchants cry woe, woe over the great city, once dressed in fine linen, purple, scarlet, gold, jewels and pearls.
A city dressed in linen and gold, and a double woe. In the Greek of Ezekiel 16:13 Jerusalem is decked in gold and silver and dressed in fine linen (byssina). Ezekiel 16:23 has woe, woe to you (ouai, ouai soi). Ezekiel 28:13 has every precious stone as Tyre's covering. Revelation 18:16 has woe, woe (ouai ouai), the great city clothed in fine linen (byssinon) and gilded with gold and precious stone.
Ezekiel 16 speaks of Jerusalem, Ezekiel 28 of Tyre's king; John speaks of Babylon. John's six goods include purple, scarlet and pearls, which Ezekiel 16:13 lacks. Ezekiel's woe comes from God; John's comes from the merchants who profited. John repeats the costume of 17:4, adding linen.
Beale says the city's clothing pictures her wealth. The same five words describe the high priest's garments in the Greek of Exodus, so the religious side of the system shows too. The harlot city is set against the pure bride city adorned with jewels in 21:18-21. The merchants mourn lost wealth, not lost goodness.
Not a judgment on fine clothes. The clothing pictures a city that trusted in her wealth, as Jerusalem trusted in her beauty in Ezekiel 16:15.
Beale says the list of six goods follows the pattern of Ezekiel 27:12-24, where some goods are pictured as Tyre's clothing (27:7), and is partly inspired by Ezekiel 28:13, where every precious stone covered Tyre's king. He adds Ezekiel 16:13, where God adorned Israel with gold, silver, fine linen and silk before she played the harlot (16:15), and calls Ezekiel 16:23, woe, woe to you, the probable inspiration for the double woe, which he says is put beyond doubt. The same five words, gold, purple, scarlet, linen and stones, describe the high priest's garments in the Greek of Exodus 25-28, which brings out the religious side of the system and the contrast with the bride. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible cites Ezekiel 27:7 and 28:13. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible cites Ezekiel 16:23 for the double woe. The CSB Study Bible's cross-references link 18:16 to 17:4. The grade is drawn here: the woe and the costume trace back to Ezekiel.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 18:16
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:10
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 18:16
- Septuagint, Ezekiel 16:13, 16:23 and 28:13, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 18:16
