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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 19:2, avenged the blood of his servants
God avenges the blood of his servants on the prostitute, in words close to God's charge against Jezebel in 2 Kings 9:7, with the prayer of Psalm 79:10 behind it.
Revelation 19:2, in every translation this tool compares.
A family that finally hears a guilty verdict may repeat the words their grandparents prayed. In 2 Kings 9, God sends Jehu to pay back Jezebel for killing the prophets and the Lord's servants. John uses almost the same words for Babylon, who has already been painted as a Jezebel. Psalm 79 adds the old prayer that God avenge his servants' blood. Here that prayer is answered.
Avenge, the blood, his servants, and from her hand. The Greek of 2 Kings 9:7 has ekdikeseis ta haimata ton doulon … ek cheiros Iezabel; John has exedikesen to haima ton doulon autou ek cheiros autes. Psalm 79:10 asks for vengeance for the poured out blood of your servants.
In 2 Kings, Jehu is sent to do the avenging. In John, God does it himself. Jezebel's name drops out, and the prostitute takes her place. John has blood in the singular where the Greek of Kings has bloods. The phrase from her hand is unclear; Beale takes it as blood shed by her hand.
The martyrs under the altar asked how long until God avenged their blood (6:10). This verse is the answer. Babylon, like Jezebel, killed God's prophets and led people into false worship. Like Jezebel, she is now judged.
Not a call for Christians to take revenge. In every text here the vengeance belongs to God. The saints only pray and praise.
Beale calls the allusion to 2 Kings 9:7 clear, given the near identical wording and since Jezebel the prostitute has already been alluded to around this verse (2:20; 17:16). He reads from her hand by the Hebrew idiom, where hand means power, so the blood was shed by her. He adds Psalm 79:10 (78:10 in the Greek) as a possible further allusion, which supports the same sense, and notes that 6:10 alluded to the same psalm and 16:6 develops it. Keener cites Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 79:10 for vindication of the righteous. The CSB Study Bible's cross-references list Deuteronomy 32:43 and 2 Kings 9:7. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible says God answers the martyrs' prayers of 6:10. The grade is Beale's: clear for 2 Kings 9:7.
The sources agree on the vengeance theme. They differ on the main text. Beale puts 2 Kings 9:7 first and Psalm 79:10 second. Keener names Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 79:10 and does not mention Jezebel. The English versions Beale lists read the phrase as vengeance on her, while he prefers blood shed by her hand.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 19:2
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 19:2
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 19:2
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:2
- Septuagint, 2 Kings 9:7 and Psalm 79:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 19:2
