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 18:21, a great millstone thrown into the sea
The angel throws a great millstone into the sea, as Jeremiah's messenger threw a stone into the Euphrates, saying Babylon would sink and never rise.
Revelation 18:21, in every translation this tool compares.
A judge who snaps a pencil to show a deal is dead makes the point without a speech. Jeremiah told his messenger to tie a stone to the scroll against Babylon. He was to throw it into the river and say that Babylon would sink the same way. John sees a mighty angel lift a huge stone, the size of a millstone. He hurls it into the sea and says Babylon will go down like that, never to be found.
A stone thrown into water as a sign, with the word so, explained of Babylon. The Greek of Jeremiah 51:63-64 has toss it into the Euphrates. Then say: so (houtos) Babylon will sink and not rise. Revelation 18:21 has he threw it into the sea, saying: so (houtos) Babylon will be thrown down and never found again. Ezekiel 26:21 in Greek has you will not be found (ouch heurethese) for ever.
Jeremiah's stone is small and tied to a scroll; John's is like a great millstone. The Euphrates becomes the sea. A man does it in Jeremiah; a mighty angel in John. John takes never found again from Ezekiel's word on Tyre. Beale thinks the great millstone came from Jesus' saying about a millstone and the sea (Matthew 18:6).
Beale says the historical judgments of Tyre and Babylon picture the fall of the last world kingdom. Jesus' saying links the image to those who cause others to stumble, a warning to deceivers in the church (2:14, 20). The repeated never found again begins the closing silence of 18:21-23.
Not a stone small enough to recover. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes the word means the huge millstone turned by a mule. Nothing will bring Babylon back up.
Beale says the picture is based on Jeremiah 51:63, where Seraiah binds a stone to the book of Babylon's judgment and casts it into the Euphrates. The angel's so matches the so of Jeremiah 51:64 in the Greek. The Ezekiel 26 background joins Jeremiah: Ezekiel 26:12 has stones cast into the sea and 26:21 never found again. Both may themselves echo Egypt's army hurled like a stone into the depths (Nehemiah 9:11; Exodus 15:4-5). He thinks John also evokes Matthew 18:6-7, with its millstone, sea and woe, and that the third strong angel completes the scrolls of 5:2 and 10:1. Keener cites Jeremiah 51:63-64 and Mark 9:42. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible cites Jeremiah 51:63-64 and Jesus' warning. The ESV Study Bible cites Jeremiah 51:63-64 and Ezekiel 26:21, and the CSB Study Bible's cross-references Jeremiah 51:59-64. Wright compares Jeremiah's act and Jesus' millstone saying. The grade is drawn here: the sign and its so follow Jeremiah.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-18-9-24\/","n":"Revelation 18:9-24, kings, merchants and the cargo list","s":"The kings, the merchants and the sea captains stand far off and mourn as Babylon burns, because no one buys their cargoes any more, a long list of luxuries that ends with human beings. An angel hurls a great millstone into the sea, and the sounds of music, craftsmen, the mill, the lamp and the wedding fall silent in the city where the blood of prophets and saints was found.","r":"Revelation 18:9-24"}
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 18:21
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 18:21
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:21
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:21
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 18:21
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 18:9-24
- Septuagint, Jeremiah 51:63-64 and Ezekiel 26:21, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 18:21
