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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 18:8, her plagues will come in one day
Babylon's plagues come in one day and she is burned with fire, as Isaiah 47 foretold for Babylon, and her judge is mighty, as Jeremiah 50:34 says.
Revelation 18:8, in every translation this tool compares.
A bank that collapses overnight shows how thin its confidence was. Isaiah told proud Babylon that losing her children and her husband would both come on her in one day. Fire would burn her helpers like stubble. Jeremiah called Israel's redeemer strong, the Lord who would plead their cause against Babylon. John says Babylon's plagues will come in a single day and she will burn, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.
Calamities that come in one day on proud Babylon. The Greek of Isaiah 47:9 says these two things will come (hexei) on you suddenly in one day (en hemera mia). Revelation 18:8 says in one day (en mia hemera) her plagues will come (hexousin). Jeremiah 50:34 in Greek calls the redeemer strong (ischyros), the Lord who will judge; John says strong is the Lord God who judged her.
Isaiah names two losses, children and widowhood; John names three plagues, death, mourning and famine. Isaiah's fire burns Babylon's astrologers like stubble (47:14); John's burns the city herself, as 17:16 foretold. Jeremiah's strong one is Israel's redeemer; John's mighty Lord is Babylon's judge.
Beale says the speed of the fall exposes how empty her proud confidence was. It also echoes Babylon's fall in one night to Cyrus (Daniel 5:30), Keener and Beale note. God's might is the final reason: he is able to do what he says.
Not a fixed twenty-four-hour schedule. One day stresses suddenness, as the one hour of 18:10 does. Some copies even read one hour here, Beale notes.
Beale says the sudden ruin in one day keeps following Isaiah 47, where both losses arrive in a single day (47:9) and all of them burn in the fire (47:14). Even the words about God come from a prophecy against Babylon, Jeremiah 50:34 (27:34 in the Greek order), where Israel's strong redeemer is the Lord who will judge. Jeremiah 50:27, 31, the day has come, may also stand behind in one day. Babylon was conquered in a single night (Daniel 5:30). Keener recalls the same night and says this new Babylon would be judged by fire. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible cites Isaiah 47:9 and Jeremiah 50:34. The ESV Study Bible cites Isaiah 47:7-9, and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible says the verse alludes to Isaiah 47:9. The CSB Study Bible's cross-references add Isaiah 47:14. The grade is drawn here: one day and the verb come follow Isaiah's Greek closely.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 18:8
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 18:8
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:8
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:7-8
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 18:8
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 18:8
- Septuagint, Isaiah 47:9, 47:14 and Jeremiah 50:34, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 18:8
