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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 7:16-17, no more hunger or thirst, led to springs of water
The promise of no hunger, no thirst, no scorching sun, and a guide to springs of water is Isaiah 49:10, given now to the Lamb's people.
Revelation 7:16-17, in every translation this tool compares.
A host who repeats the menu of an old feast promises the same meal. In Isaiah 49 God promises exiles coming home that they will not hunger or thirst. Neither heat nor sun will strike them, and he will guide them to water. John says the same of the crowd before the throne. But now it is the Lamb who leads them, to springs of the water of life.
The Greek runs almost word for word. Both have ou peinasousin oude dipsesousin, they will not hunger nor thirst. Both have the sun (helios) and the heat. Both lead them to springs of waters (pegon hydaton).
John adds anymore (eti) twice, since the crowd has known hunger. Isaiah's springs of water become springs of the water of life. In Isaiah the one who has mercy, God, leads them. In John the Lamb leads them, and he is also their shepherd.
Isaiah's promise was for Israel's return from exile. John sees it kept for a crowd from every nation, after their tribulation. Beale says Jewish readers applied the verse to the return of the ten tribes, and that John applies it to the church. The comfort also answers the famine of 6:5-6.
Not John's own promise. The words are Isaiah's, spoken to exiles coming home. John adds the word anymore, the water of life, and the Lamb as the one who leads.
Beale says John appeals to Isaiah 49:10, a result of Israel's restoration into God's presence. In the vault's Septuagint, Isaiah 49:10 reads ou peinasousin oude dipsesousin, oude pataxei autous kauson oude helios … kai dia pegon hydaton axei autous; John has ou peinasousin eti oude dipsesousin eti oude me pese ep' autous ho helios oude pan kauma … kai hodegesei autous epi zoes pegas hydaton. He adds that the shepherding comes from Isaiah 49:9, where they will be pastured. Keener says Revelation borrows the language of Isaiah 49:10; the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible sets the two side by side; the ESV Study Bible, the CSB Study Bible's cross-references and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible all cite Isaiah 49:10. Walton notes that Assyrian texts describe a just king's reign with food and drink for the needy, and that Isaiah's promises join the messianic profile. The grade is drawn here: the wording is nearly the same.
The sources differ on when the promise is kept. Beale reads it as kept for the church, and notes that 22:17 already invites the thirsty to take the water of life now. MacArthur reads the crowd as believers saved and killed in a tribulation still to come, now sheltered in God's presence in heaven from all they suffered on earth.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 7:16-17
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 7:15-16 and 7:17
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Revelation 7:9-17 and 7:16-17
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 7:15-17
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 7:16-17
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 7:16
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 7:9-17
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, on Isaiah 49:9-10
- Septuagint, Isaiah 49:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 7:16-17
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 7:14 and 7:15
