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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 22:11, let the wrongdoer still do wrong
Daniel foretold that the wicked would go on in wickedness while the wise understand; John turns the forecast into commands.
Revelation 22:11, in every translation this tool compares.
A weather forecast and an order to take an umbrella say the same thing in two moods. Daniel was told that in the last days the wicked would keep acting wickedly, while the wise would understand. John repeats the pattern as commands. The wrongdoer is told to keep at it, and the holy one to stay holy.
Two groups who stay as they are: the wicked go on in wrong, the righteous in right. Both texts follow the sealing of Daniel's book.
Daniel predicts; John commands. Daniel speaks of the lawless who will not understand and the wise who will. John uses four pairs: wrongdoing, filth, righteousness, holiness. Ezekiel 3:27 gives the command form, let the one who hears hear and the one who refuses refuse. Beale says the change from forecast to command shows that Daniel's prophecy is already coming true.
The wicked are left to their choice. The faithful are urged on. Beale reads the commands as the double effect of God's word: it hardens those who reject it and wakes up those who belong to him. Keener and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible call the tone ironic, a challenge to the unrepentant.
Not God inviting people to sin. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says the language is ironic, as in the prophets, a challenge to people who refuse to repent.
Beale says 22:11 makes explicit allusion to Daniel 12:10, right after the use of Daniel 12:4, 9 in 22:10, and that it may also echo Ezekiel 3:27, part of the Isaiah 6 hardening theme. The Greek of Daniel 12:10 (Theodotion) has anomesosin anomoi, the lawless will act lawlessly, and hoi noemones synesousin, the wise will understand. John has ho adikon adikesato eti, let the wrongdoer still do wrong. Beale notes the Greek of Daniel 12:4 ends with the earth filled with injustice (adikia). Keener, the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible all cite Daniel 12:10, most with Ezekiel 3:27. The grade is drawn here as probable: the pattern of two fixed groups is traceable to Daniel 12:10, but the words differ.
Beale reads the commands as real, a judgment of hardening on apostates and a call to the faithful. Keener and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible read them as ironic. The ESV Study Bible says patterns of behavior will at last become fixed. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible gives both readings.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 22:11
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 22:11
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:11
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:11
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:11
- Septuagint, Daniel 12:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 22:11
