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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 6:15, the kings of the earth and the great ones
The ranks of the powerful who hide begin with the same three groups Isaiah 34 dooms: kings, great ones and rulers.
Revelation 6:15, in every translation this tool compares.
A roll call that starts with the same three names as an older list sends readers back to it. In Isaiah 34, the chapter of the rolled-up sky, Edom's kings, rulers and great men come to nothing. John's list of those who hide from God starts with kings, great ones and commanders. It then widens to the rich, the strong, and everyone, slave or free.
Kings and great ones under judgment. The Greek of Isaiah 34:12 has hoi basileis and hoi megistanes, the same two words John uses, with rulers (archontes) as the third.
Isaiah names Edom's leaders; John names the kings of the earth. John's third group are commanders of a thousand (chiliarchoi), not rulers. And John adds three more groups, ending with slave and free.
Beale says the same groups appear in 19:18-19 as allies of the beast. The list shows that God judges all alike, whatever their rank. The people who ran the world, and those who served them, stand together before the throne.
Not a judgment on the rich alone. The list runs from kings to slaves, and Beale reads it as everyone who has made the earth an idol.
Beale says the Septuagint has the kings, the rulers and the great ones only in Isaiah 34:12, and calls this nearly identical to the first three groups of 6:15 (he compares Psalm 2:2 as well). He notes it fits the use of Isaiah 34:4 just before, and that in both texts the groups are judged for oppressing God's people. In the vault's Septuagint, 34:12 reads hoi archontes autes … hoi gar basileis autes kai hoi megistanes autes; John has hoi basileis tes ges kai hoi megistanes kai hoi chiliarchoi. Beale also finds six groups of people here matching six parts of the cosmos in 6:12-14. The grade is drawn here by Beale's definitions: the three nouns together are found in one Greek verse, right beside the verse John has just used. Only Beale names this link.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 6:12-14, 6:15 and The Theological Significance of the Old Testament Allusions in 6:15-17
- Septuagint, Isaiah 34:12, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 6:15
