The closing benediction 'Peace be to you' carries the priestly blessing's gift of shalom, the customary Hebrew word of farewell and blessing. The link is to a standard liturgical formula rather than a pointed allusion.

Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’


Jude's epistolary greeting, 'Mercy to you and peace and love be multiplied,' echoes the language of the Aaronic blessing, where the LORD makes his face shine and gives peace. The triadic well-wishing of mercy and peace draws on the priestly benediction tradition.

‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’


The salutation formula 'peace be multiplied to you' parallels the Aramaic court-letter greeting in Daniel, where Nebuchadnezzar wishes peace multiplied to all peoples. Jude adopts a Jewish epistolary convention with Septuagintal roots.

Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.


The notion of a 'faith once for all delivered to the saints' echoes the deuteronomic idea of a law/heritage handed down to the assembly of Jacob. Jude transposes the language of a delivered covenant deposit onto the apostolic faith.

Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.


The 'ungodly' (asebeis) marked out 'long ago for this condemnation' draws on the Enochic vocabulary of the predestined judgment of the wicked, a keyword that saturates 1 Enoch's Book of Watchers and Parables. Jude's repeated 'ungodly' terminology is distinctively Enochic.

[source text not in the World English Bible]


That certain men were 'long ago written about for this condemnation' resonates with the wisdom conviction that the LORD has made the wicked for the day of trouble. The idea of a pre-recorded destiny for the ungodly has sapiential and prophetic roots.

Yahweh has made everything for its own end— yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.


Jude's first judgment example, that the Lord saved a people out of Egypt but afterward destroyed those who did not believe, directly recalls the wilderness generation condemned to die in the desert for their unbelief at Kadesh. The motif of deliverance followed by destruction of the faithless is the Numbers narrative in compressed form.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, that you said should be captured or killed, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land […]


The clause 'having saved a people out of the land of Egypt' is exodus-deliverance language, recalling the LORD bringing Israel out of Egypt by their hosts. Jude assumes the Passover/Exodus salvation as the backdrop to subsequent judgment.

That same day, Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.


The destruction of those who did not believe echoes the psalm's oath that the unbelieving wilderness generation would not enter God's rest because they hardened their hearts. Psalm 95 is the canonical liturgical reflection on Numbers 14 that Jude draws upon.

Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, tested me, and saw my work. Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”


Moses' recollection that, despite the LORD's deliverance, the people did not believe and so none of that evil generation would see the good land parallels Jude's pairing of salvation and subsequent destruction for unbelief. The deuteronomic retelling reinforces the Numbers source.

Yet in this thing you didn’t believe Yahweh your God, who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers,


The angels who did not keep their first domain but deserted their dwelling allude to the 'sons of God' who took human wives, read in Second Temple tradition as a primeval angelic transgression. Jude takes this episode as the paradigm of beings who abandoned their proper station.

When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children […]


The angels 'kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day' closely follows the Watchers narrative, where the rebellious angels are bound in chains in the valleys of the earth and held in darkness until the great day of judgment. Jude's vocabulary of binding, gloom, and reserved judgment is drawn from the Book of Watchers.


The specific image of an angel (Azazel) bound and cast into darkness, covered until the day of the great judgment when he is sent into the fire, supplies the exact detail of 'everlasting bonds under darkness' awaiting final judgment. This passage is the proximate source for Jude's phrasing.


Isaiah's oracle that the LORD will punish the host of heaven, gathering them as prisoners in a pit and shutting them up, then punishing them after many days, parallels the angels reserved in chains for the day of judgment. The prophetic motif of imprisoned heavenly powers awaiting judgment underlies Jude's image.

It shall happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.


Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which gave themselves to sexual immorality and went after strange flesh, directly recall the Genesis account of the men of Sodom and the destruction of the cities of the plain by fire from heaven. Jude treats their overthrow as a standing 'example' of judgment.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.” Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring […]


The phrase 'the cities around them' suffering judgment echoes Deuteronomy's reference to the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, a brimstone-and-fire desolation held up as a warning. The wider Pentateuchal memory of the destroyed plain-cities informs Jude's 'surrounding cities.'

and that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath;


The motif of 'eternal fire' that is not quenched, burning night and day forever, draws on prophetic depictions of Edom's perpetual burning, itself modeled on Sodom's destruction. Jude's 'punishment of eternal fire' universalizes this imagery of unending conflagration.

Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch. It won’t be quenched night nor day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever.


The use of Sodom as a moral exemplum of arrogant sinners made a visible example to others parallels Jude's framing of the cities as 'shown as an example.' Deuterocanonical reflection on Sodom as a paradigm of judgment stands behind Jude's exemplary rhetoric.

It was you who did make the Sodomites, those workers of exceeding iniquity, men notorious for their vices, an example to after generations, when you did cover them with fire and brimstone.


The 'dreamers' who defile the flesh continue the Sodom comparison, their carnal defilement mirroring the men of Sodom's demand. The link of dream-driven delusion to fleshly defilement extends the preceding judgment examples.

They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”


Calling the intruders 'dreamers' evokes the deuteronomic 'dreamer of dreams,' the false prophet who leads Israel astray and must be purged. Jude tars the false teachers with the brush of the lying visionary condemned in the Law.

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises in your midst you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let us serve them”; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. […]


That they 'slander celestial beings' / glorious ones anticipates the angelic-court scene Jude cites next, where even Michael would not rail against Satan. The presumption of blaspheming heavenly powers stands in contrast to the restraint of the heavenly court tradition.

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


The dispute between Michael the archangel and the devil over the body of Moses is drawn from a lost ending of the Assumption (Testament) of Moses, to which early witnesses (Clement, Origen) attribute this episode. Jude cites the pseudepigraphal narrative as the source of Michael's refusal to pronounce a railing judgment.


Michael's words, 'May the Lord rebuke you,' quote almost verbatim the angel of the LORD's rebuke of Satan in Zechariah's vision of Joshua the high priest. Jude transfers the canonical formula of restrained heavenly rebuke into the Moses-body dispute.

Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


The very existence of a contested 'body of Moses' presupposes Deuteronomy's note that Moses died and the LORD buried him in the valley, with no one knowing his grave. The mystery of Moses' divinely managed burial generated the angelic-dispute tradition Jude reports.

So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to Yahweh’s word. He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day.


Michael's identity as 'the archangel' contending against a hostile spiritual power draws on Daniel's portrayal of Michael as one of the chief princes who battles opposing angelic forces. Jude assumes the Danielic role of Michael as Israel's angelic champion.

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia.


That they 'went in the way of Cain' recalls Cain, who out of envy murdered his brother Abel, the archetype of the unrighteous man following his own anger to bloodshed. Jude makes Cain the first of a triad of OT rebels exemplifying the intruders' path.

As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the […]


Running 'in the error of Balaam for hire' alludes to the prophet Balaam, who coveted Balak's reward and sought to curse Israel. The motif of prophetic greed leading to ruin draws on the Balaam cycle.

The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many. Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab […]


Balaam's 'error for hire' specifically evokes the tradition that Balaam counseled Israel into apostasy and immorality at Peor, causing the plague. This passage identifies Balaam as the instigator of Israel's sin, the venal corruption Jude condemns.

Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh.


Perishing 'in Korah's rebellion' alludes to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses' and Aaron's authority and were swallowed by the earth and consumed by fire. Jude makes Korah the climactic example of those who reject God-given authority and are destroyed.

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took some men. They rose up before Moses, with some of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much on yourself, since all the […]


The summary notice that Korah's company became a warning sign when the earth swallowed them reinforces Jude's use of Korah as a paradigm of judged rebellion. The retrospective canonical memory of Korah-as-warning underlies Jude's 'perished in Korah's rebellion.'

The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram, who were called by the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they rebelled against Yahweh, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died; at the time the fire devoured two hundred fifty men, and they became a sign.


The 'shepherds who without fear feed themselves' directly echoes Ezekiel's woe against the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves rather than the flock. Jude brands the false teachers as the self-serving shepherds the prophet condemned.

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?


'Clouds without water, carried along by winds' echoes the proverb comparing a man who boasts of gifts he does not give to clouds and wind without rain. The image of empty, rain-less clouds is a wisdom figure for fruitless boasting.

As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.


'Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame' draws on Isaiah's likening of the wicked to the troubled sea that cannot rest, casting up mire and dirt. Jude turns the prophetic simile of restless wickedness into an image of the intruders foaming up shame.

But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt.


The 'wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever' draws on the Watchers' vision of stars that transgressed the LORD's command and are bound in a fiery prison-place until the day of judgment. Jude's astral imagery of disobedient, doomed stars is distinctively Enochic.

[source text not in the World English Bible]


Enoch's second vision of seven bound stars in a chaotic, fiery place, held for ten thousand years until the consummation of their sin, supplies the reserved darkness awaiting Jude's 'wandering stars.' This passage parallels the punishment of the lawless luminaries.


The figure of 'autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots' resonates with the wisdom contrast between the fruitful righteous and the barren, uprooted wicked. The horticultural imagery of fruitlessness and uprooting draws on sapiential tree-metaphors.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.


Trees 'plucked up by the roots' echoes the prophetic judgment image of a vine torn up by its roots so that it withers. The motif of uprooting as divine judgment on fruitlessness lies behind Jude's autumn trees.

Say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? and not by a strong arm or many people can it be raised from its roots.


Jude explicitly attributes to Enoch, seventh from Adam, the prophecy that the Lord comes with myriads of his holy ones to execute judgment and convict all the ungodly. This is a direct, near-verbatim quotation of the opening oracle of the Book of Watchers, the only formal OT-style citation in Jude.


Identifying Enoch as 'the seventh from Adam' draws on the Genesis genealogy from Adam through Seth, in which Enoch is the seventh patriarch who walked with God. Jude grounds the Enochic oracle in the canonical figure of the antediluvian prophet.

Jared lived one hundred sixty-two years, then became the father of Enoch. Jared lived after he became the father of Enoch eight hundred years, and became the father of other sons and daughters. All the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years, then he died. Enoch lived sixty-five years, then became the father of Methuselah. After Methuselah’s birth, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and became the father of more sons and daughters. All […]


The theophany of 'the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones' echoes Moses' blessing, where the LORD comes from Sinai with myriads of holy ones, fire at his right hand. This Sinai-theophany formula underlies both 1 Enoch 1:9 and Jude's citation.

He said, “Yahweh came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shone from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At his right hand was a fiery law for them.


The coming of the Lord accompanied by 'all the holy ones with him' parallels Zechariah's prophecy that the LORD will come and all the holy ones with him. The eschatological advent with the angelic host is a shared prophetic motif behind Jude's quotation.

You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you./f + Septuagint reads “him” instead of “you”./f*


The 'ten thousands of holy ones' attending the Lord to execute judgment recalls Daniel's vision of myriads upon myriads standing before the Ancient of Days as the court sits in judgment. The numberless heavenly assembly at the judgment scene resonates with Daniel's throne-room.

A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.


Branding them 'murmurers and complainers' echoes the wilderness generation who grumbled against Moses and Aaron, the archetypal sin of murmuring that brought judgment in Numbers 14. Jude links the intruders' discontent to the condemned grumblers of the desert.

All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness!


The description of murmurers who walk after their own lusts and speak proud, hard words against the Lord follows the Enochic indictment of the impious who utter hard speech and complain against God's greatness. Jude's profile of the grumblers continues his dependence on the Book of Watchers' moral vocabulary.


The prophecy that 'in the last time there will be mockers' echoes the prophetic denunciation of scoffers who rule the people and despise the word of the LORD. The figure of the eschatological scoffer draws on the prophetic 'men of scorning.'

Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:


The 'mockers' walking after ungodly lusts resonate with wisdom's rebuke of scoffers who delight in their scoffing and hate knowledge. Jude casts the false teachers in the mold of the sapiential 'scorner.'

“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?


Saving some by 'snatching them out of the fire' alludes to Zechariah's vision of Joshua the high priest as a brand plucked from the fire. Jude applies the prophetic image of rescue from imminent burning to the work of reclaiming the endangered.

Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


The metaphor of being 'snatched out of the fire' also echoes Amos, where survivors of God's overthrow are like a brand plucked from the burning, a Sodom-like judgment. The shared 'brand from the fire' figure of narrow rescue from destruction underlies Jude's exhortation.

“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.


'Hating even the clothing stained by the flesh' echoes the same Zechariah vision, where Joshua's filthy garments are removed and replaced with clean ones, defiled clothing symbolizing iniquity. Jude draws on the prophetic image of polluted garments as figures of contaminating sin.

Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off of him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”


The doxology to him 'who is able to keep you from stumbling' echoes the psalm's assurance that the LORD will not let your foot be moved and keeps Israel from falling. The motif of God as the keeper who prevents stumbling draws on the psalter's language of preservation.

He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.


Ascribing glory, majesty, dominion, and power 'to God our Savior, who alone is wise' echoes the Song of Moses' praise of the Rock whose work is perfect and whose ways are just. The closing ascription of greatness to the saving God resonates with deuteronomic doxological praise.

The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.


The piling up of 'glory and majesty, dominion and power' echoes David's doxology that greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty belong to the LORD, who rules over all. Jude's liturgical ascription of attributes follows the pattern of OT throne-doxologies.

Yours, Yahweh, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty! For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, Yahweh, and you are exalted as head above all.


The programmatic phrase 'the things which must happen' (ha dei genesthai) reworks Daniel's 'what must happen hereafter' (LXX Dan 2:28–29, ha dei genesthai). High verbal volume on the apocalyptic-disclosure formula; John shortens Daniel's 'in the latter days' to 'soon,' compressing Daniel's eschatology into imminence.

but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these: as for you, O king, your thoughts came on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what shall happen.


Reinforces the Danielic 'made known what will happen hereafter' as the source of John's 'show to his servants.' Thematic coherence (God reveals the certain future) supports the link; verbal echo is secondary to Dan 2:28–29.

Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall happen hereafter: and the dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.


The pairing of revealing 'his secret to his servants the prophets' coheres with John's 'show to his servants' through the prophet-mediator John. Faint, conceptual echo only; no distinctive shared vocabulary in WEB/LXX, hence low confidence and contested.

Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.


'Who is and who was and who is to come' expands the divine Name of Exod 3:14 (LXX ho ōn, 'the one who is') into a three-tense formula. High thematic coherence on the eternal self-existent God; John adds 'who was' and 'who is to come' to render the Tetragrammaton's timelessness, a known Targumic/Hellenistic-Jewish expansion.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”


'He made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God' directly reapplies the Sinai covenant charter 'a kingdom of priests' to the church. Strong verbal volume; John follows a reading like 'kingdom and priests' (cf. LXX basileion hierateuma), democratizing Israel's vocation onto the redeemed.

and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”


'The firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth' fuses both halves of Ps 89:27 (LXX 88:28), the royal-messianic enthronement of David's heir. Two distinct phrases recur together (firstborn + highest/ruler of earth's kings), giving high verbal volume; Christ's resurrection becomes the 'firstborn' coronation.

I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.


'The faithful witness' coheres with Isaiah's messianic 'witness to the peoples.' Thematic and partial verbal overlap on the title 'witness'; less distinctive than the Ps 89 / Exod echoes, so medium and arguably secondary.

Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.


The 'seven Spirits before his throne' may draw on Zechariah's vision-cycle of the Spirit and the seven lamps/eyes (Zech 4:2, 10). Faint; the sevenfold Spirit more likely develops Isa 11:2's enumerated Spirit, so low confidence and contested.

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.


'He is coming with the clouds' lifts Daniel's 'one like a son of man' coming 'with the clouds of the sky.' Very high verbal volume and recurrence (this is Revelation's signature christophany text); John applies Daniel's heavenward enthronement to Christ's parousia toward earth.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.


'Those who pierced him' and 'all the tribes will mourn' weave together Zech 12:10's piercing and mourning. High verbal volume; John follows the Hebrew 'whom they pierced' (the LXX reads 'because they mocked/danced'), agreeing with John 19:37 against the LXX — a noted Hebrew-vs-LXX divergence.

I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and compassion: and they shall look upon me, because they have mocked me, and they shall make lamentation for him, as for a beloved friend, and they shall grieve intensely, as for a firstborn son.


'All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him' extends Zech 12:12's catalog of mourning families. Reinforces the Zechariah piercing-and-mourning complex; John universalizes Zechariah's tribes of the land into 'all the tribes of the earth.'

The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;


'I am the Alpha and the Omega' is a Greek-alphabet equivalent of Isaiah's divine self-predication 'I am the first and the last.' High thematic coherence with the Deutero-Isaianic monotheism formula; John recasts the merism into the first and last Greek letters, claiming exhaustive divine sovereignty.

This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.


The repeated 'who is and who was and who is to come' restates the Exod 3:14 Name (LXX ho ōn). Recurrence from 1:4 raises verbal volume; here joined to 'the Almighty' (LXX pantokratōr), the standard rendering of 'Yahweh of Armies / El Shaddai.'


The 'loud voice, like a trumpet' evokes the Sinai theophany, where God's voice attends 'an exceedingly loud trumpet.' Strong thematic coherence (divine self-revelation announced by trumpet); John casts Patmos as a new Sinai where the prophet receives the word.

On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.


The command 'What you see, write in a book and send' replays Ezekiel's call to receive a written scroll and deliver it to God's people. High coherence within the prophetic-commission genre that structures Rev 1; John substitutes 'write/send' for Ezekiel's 'eat/speak.'

When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein; He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. He said to me, Son of man, eat that which you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.


The trumpet-voice may also carry Joel's eschatological alarm announcing the Day of Yahweh, consonant with 'the Lord's day' just named. Verbal volume is modest (shared image, not phrasing), so medium and contested against the Sinai/Exod 19 reading.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:


The instruction to commit the vision 'to a book' inverts Daniel's command to 'seal the book,' part of Revelation's deliberate contrast (the time being 'at hand,' 1:3, so the book is opened not sealed). Faint, structural echo only.

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run back and forth, and knowledge shall be increased.”


The whole figure — robe, golden belt, eyes like fire, feet like burnished brass, resounding voice — is built on Daniel's glorious man. Very high verbal volume across multiple clustered details; this is the dominant template for the inaugural christophany.

I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, whose thighs were adorned with pure gold of Uphaz: his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.


'One like a son of man' is verbatim from Dan 7:13. High recurrence (cf. 1:7); John strikingly transfers to this 'son of man' the white-wool hair that Daniel gives the Ancient of Days, identifying Christ with God.


'His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow' reproduces Dan 7:9's description of the Ancient of Days. High verbal volume on the doubled simile (wool + snow); the deliberate transfer from the Ancient of Days to the son of man is a high-coherence Christological move.

I saw until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire.


'His voice was like the voice of many waters' matches Ezek 43:2 nearly verbatim (LXX phōnē hydatōn pollōn). High verbal volume; the divine-glory association in Ezekiel transfers the theophanic voice directly to the risen Christ.

Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory.


Ezek 1:24 supplies the same 'voice/noise of many waters' simile, here joined to 'the voice of the Almighty,' reinforcing the theophanic register. Slightly less close in wording than Ezek 43:2, so medium and arguably the secondary Ezekiel source.

When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army: when they stood, they let down their wings.


'Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword' draws on the Servant's 'mouth like a sharp sword.' Strong thematic coherence (the word that judges proceeds from the mouth); John intensifies to a 'two-edged' sword, blending Isa 49:2 with Isa 11:4.

and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:


The sword/word 'out of his mouth' that judges fuses Isa 11:4's messianic 'rod of his mouth' with Isa 49:2. High thematic coherence on the judging messianic word; the two Isaiah texts together yield Revelation's recurring mouth-sword motif.

but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.


The 'seven golden lamp stands' develop Zechariah's single golden lampstand with seven lamps. Real verbal overlap (golden lampstand, sevenfold light), but John multiplies the one menorah into seven (the churches), a deliberate transformation, so medium.

He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;


The full-length robe and golden sash recall the high-priestly vestments (LXX podērēs, the very word used in Rev 1:13). Verbal volume rests on the rare term podērēs shared with Exod 28:4/29:5 LXX, presenting Christ as priest among the lampstands; medium because the figure is primarily Danielic.

These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.


'His face was like the sun shining at its brightest' may echo the 'sun rising in its strength' of Deborah's song (and cf. Mal 4:2, the sun of righteousness). Faint, image-level echo with no distinctive shared phrasing, hence low and contested.

“So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh, but let those who love him be as the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had rest forty years.


The seer 'falling' overwhelmed and then being 'touched/raised' with the reassurance not to fear follows Daniel's recurring vision-reaction pattern (also Dan 10:9–10, 12). High coherence within the apocalyptic-call form; Christ takes the angel's reviving role.

So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face: but he said to me, Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end. Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.


'I am the first and the last' is verbatim divine self-predication from Isaiah. High verbal volume and recurrence (cf. Alpha/Omega, 1:8); the risen Christ assumes a formula Isaiah reserves for Yahweh alone, an unambiguous high-Christology claim.


Reinforces 'the first and the last' from a second Deutero-Isaiah occurrence, strengthening the recurrence criterion. High coherence; the doubled Isaianic witness shows John is citing a fixed monotheistic title, not an isolated phrase.

“Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.


A third Isaianic 'I, the first... and the last' that also pairs with 'I am he,' echoed in Christ's 'I am the Living one.' Medium because slightly less verbally exact than Isa 44:6/48:12, but it deepens the recurrence pattern.

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”


'I have the keys of Death and of Hades' draws on Isaiah's image of the authoritative 'key' that opens and shuts (explicitly reused at Rev 3:7). High thematic coherence on delegated sovereign authority; John transfers the key from Eliakim's stewardship to Christ's power over the realm of the dead.

I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.


'The things which will happen hereafter' (and 'mystery,' mystērion) restates the Danielic disclosure formula from 1:1, framing the book. High recurrence; 'mystery of the seven stars' uses Daniel's revelation-of-secrets vocabulary (LXX mystērion, Dan 2:28–29).

but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these: as for you, O king, your thoughts came on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what shall happen.


Christ holding 'the keys of Death and of Hades' coheres with Yahweh's claim to ransom from the power of Sheol/Death and to command Death and Hades. Thematic, not verbal; supports the keys-over-death motif but is the secondary source to Isa 22:22.

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.


The 'gates of death' over which only God has knowledge/authority faintly underlies Christ's possession of the 'keys of Death.' Image-level echo with no shared distinctive wording, so low and contested.

Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?


The overcomer's reward of eating "from the tree of life" reverses the Edenic loss. Strong on Hays' volume (the phrase עץ החיים / ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς is verbatim) and recurrence (the motif frames the whole Apocalypse, recurring at Rev 22:2,14). LXX and MT agree on the phrase.

Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.


Typological reversal: access to the tree of life, barred by cherubim and the flaming sword after the expulsion, is now restored to the conqueror. High on thematic coherence and satisfaction — Revelation reads the Christ-event as undoing the Fall. "Paradise" (παράδεισος) is the LXX rendering of the garden of Eden, a clear LXX-mediated lexical link.

Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...” Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim/f + cherubim are powerful angelic creatures, messengers of God with wings. See Ezekiel 10./f* at the east of the garden of […]


Faint lexical support for the unusual phrase "Paradise of my God" (τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ μου); Ezek 28:13 and 31:8-9 supply "Eden, the garden of God." Low confidence; the Genesis tradition is the primary source. Flagged contested as background rather than direct echo.

The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty. I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.


The self-designation "the first and the last" applies a divine title of Yahweh (Isa 41:4; 44:6; 48:12) to the risen Christ. High on volume (verbatim πρῶτος καὶ ἔσχατος) and theological emphasis. LXX and MT agree.

This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.


The "ten days" of tribulation may echo the ten-day testing of Daniel and his companions, a stylized period of trial that ends in vindication. Low confidence; "ten days" is also simply a short delimited period. Flagged contested.

Test your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink. Then let our faces be looked on before you, and the face of the youths who eat of the king’s dainties; and as you see, deal with your servants. So he listened to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.


The promise that the conqueror "won't be harmed by the second death" presupposes a resurrection-of-the-just / judgment scheme rooted in Dan 12:2. "Crown of life" is faint (no clear OT antecedent; possibly the victor's wreath / Wisdom-tradition crown imagery). Low confidence.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


The Balaam tradition — that Balaam "taught Balak" to entice Israel into idolatry and immorality — derives from the harmonized reading of Num 31:16 with Num 25. High on coherence: Revelation depends on this interpretive tradition (not just the Numbers narrative, where Balaam blesses Israel), making Balaam a cipher for false teachers. LXX/MT agree.

Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh.


The twin charge — "to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality" — maps directly onto the Baal-Peor episode (eating sacrifices to other gods + harlotry with the Moabite women). High volume and historical coherence. The pairing φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα / πορνεῦσαι reflects this narrative.

Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab; for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.


Supplies the named figures "Balaam" and "Balak" and the master-pupil relationship Revelation assumes ("who taught Balak"). The figural reading — Balaam as archetypal corrupter of God's people for gain — is developed in Second Temple tradition and shared with 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 11. High.

The children of Israel traveled, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab was very afraid of the people, because they were many. Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this multitude will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab […]


"Hidden manna" (τοῦ μάννα τοῦ κεκρυμμένου) draws on the jar of manna laid up "before the Testimony" in the ark. The adjective "hidden" reflects the later tradition (2 Macc 2:4-8) that Jeremiah concealed the ark and its manna, to be revealed at the eschaton — a strong coherence link to the messianic-banquet expectation. High.

Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot, and put an omer-full of manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh, to be kept throughout your generations.” As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.


The Christ-speaker's "sharp two-edged sword" and "the sword of my mouth" echo the Servant whose mouth is "like a sharp sword." Medium-high on volume; the word-as-weapon image is distinctive. Combines with Isa 11:4. LXX μάχαιραν ὀξεῖαν aligns with Rev ρομφαίαν ἀμφίστομον ὀξεῖαν.

and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:


The messianic "rod of his mouth" / "breath of his lips" that slays the wicked underwrites "I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth." Medium confidence; reinforces the Davidic-judge typology. The LXX (πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ) sharpens the speech-as-sword motif.

but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.


"A new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it" echoes the eschatological "new name" given by Yahweh to redeemed Zion (cf. also Isa 65:15). Medium confidence on the lexical phrase ὄνομα καινόν; the secrecy element is Revelation's own development.

The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh shall name.


The "white stone" (ψῆφον λευκήν) has no single OT antecedent; proposed backgrounds include the Urim/priestly stones, an acquittal token, or an amulet bearing a secret name. The hidden-manna-restored motif is paralleled in 2 Baruch 29:8. Low confidence; included for maximal inventory.

[source text not in the World English Bible]


The closest Revelation comes to formal citation: "I will give him authority over the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots" reproduces Ps 2:8-9 nearly verbatim. Highest volume in the chapter. Revelation follows the LXX ποιμανεῖς ("shepherd/rule") of תרעם ("break") in Ps 2:9 — a notable LXX-vs-MT divergence: MT reads "break them" (râʿâʿ), LXX "rule/shepherd them," and Revelation's ποιμανεῖ reflects the LXX vocalization.

Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”


"I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds" fuses the divine self-predication of Jer 17:10 with its recompense clause. High on volume and structure: the two halves (searching reins/hearts + repaying according to deeds) appear together in both texts. ἐραυνῶν νεφροὺς καὶ καρδίας is LXX idiom.

I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.


"I will give him the morning star" draws on Balaam's messianic "star out of Jacob" — a notable inclusio with the same chapter's Balaam-as-corrupter theme (2:14): Balaam both prophesies the true Star and (in tradition) corrupts Israel. High on coherence; reinforced by the wider star-Messiah expectation. Distinguish from the planet Venus / ἀστὴρ ὁ πρωϊνός imagery of Rev 22:16.

I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.


"Jezebel" is a typological label for the Thyatiran false prophetess. The historical Jezebel introduced Baal worship and persecuted the prophets; Revelation reuses her as the archetype of seductive syncretism within the covenant community. High on coherence — the name is deployed symbolically, not biographically.

As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.


Supplies the specific charge of Jezebel's "prostitution" (πορνεῖαι) and sorcery, which Revelation maps onto the Thyatiran teacher who "seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality." The judgment that her "children" are killed (2:23) further echoes the violent end of Jezebel's house in Jehu's purge (2 Kings 9-10). High.

When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace, so long as the prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft abound?”


The opening self-description — "eyes like a flame of fire" and "feet like burnished brass" — is drawn from the angelophany of Dan 10:6 (eyes as flaming torches, arms and feet like burnished brass). High on volume; both distinctive images co-occur in source and target. The "burnished brass" (χαλκολιβάνῳ) wording is Revelation's coinage atop the LXX brass imagery.

his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.


Secondary support for "feet like burnished brass": the living creatures of Ezekiel's throne vision sparkle "like burnished brass." Medium confidence; Dan 10:6 is the primary source, but the merkabah tradition reinforces the metal-feet image. LXX ἐξαστράπτων χαλκός.

Their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass.


A second witness to the "God who searches minds and hearts" formula behind 2:23, parallel to Jer 17:10 and Ps 139:1,23. Medium confidence; Jeremiah remains primary because it also supplies the recompense clause. ἐτάζων καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς (LXX).

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.


The Thyatiran charge repeats the Pergamum/Baal-Peor pairing — "commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols" — binding the two letters to the same Numbers 25 paradigm of idol-food plus harlotry. Medium confidence here (the Jezebel typology is primary), included to mark the recurring structural echo.


Blotting a name out of God's written book. Strong verbal+thematic correspondence (Hays: volume, recurrence) to 3:5 'blot his name out of the book of life.' Exodus has 'my book'/'your book'; Revelation adds 'of life' (βίβλος τῆς ζωῆς). LXX and Hebrew agree on the blotting idiom.

Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.” Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.


The only OT verse with the exact phrase 'book of life' (LXX Ps 68:29 βίβλος ζώντων). Closest verbal source for Rev 3:5; high volume + thematic fit (registry of the righteous). Note LXX 'book of the living' vs MT 'book of life.'

Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.


Eschatological registry: deliverance of 'everyone who is found written in the book.' Revelation is saturated with Daniel; the heavenly book of the saved underlies the promise of 3:5. Hays: recurrence (Daniel pervades Rev) + thematic coherence.

“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book.


White garments / clothing 'white as snow' for the heavenly/vindicated. Feeds the white-garment imagery of 3:4–5. Diffuse but recurrent Danielic palette in Revelation.

I saw until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire.


Defiled (filthy) garments removed and replaced with clean/rich clothing = vindication. Background to 'did not defile their garments' and being 'arrayed in white.' Figural: garment = moral/cultic state.

He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off of him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”


Garments of salvation / robe of righteousness as eschatological clothing of the redeemed. Faint thematic resonance with white garments of the worthy; no distinctive verbal link.

I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


The clearest near-quotation in the chapter: 'key of David... he opens and no one shuts, he shuts and no one opens' (Eliakim oracle) reapplied to Christ in 3:7. Very high volume + verbal correspondence. Rev follows the Hebrew/LXX sense closely; 'no one can shut' renders the same antithetic couplet.

I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.


Former oppressors 'come bowing' and bow at the soles of your feet — directly behind 3:9 'worship before your feet.' Strong thematic+verbal (feet, bowing of enemies of Zion). Reversal motif: nations honor the elect community.

The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending to you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The city of Yahweh, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


Kings/nations 'bow down to you with their faces to the earth' and 'you will know that I am Yahweh' — paralleling 3:9 'worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.' The recognition-formula ('know that...') is a tight structural match.

Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”


Foreigners 'come over... bow down... make supplication: Surely God is in you.' Submission-of-the-nations-to-Zion topos underlying 3:9. Hays: recurrence (Rev clusters Isaianic Zion-pilgrimage texts).

Thus says Yahweh: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.


'You will be called by a new name, which Yahweh's mouth will name' — source for 'my own new name' written on the overcomer (3:12). High verbal correspondence on the 'new name' motif.

The nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh shall name.


'He will call his servants by another name' — the new-name-for-the-elect (vs. old name as curse) behind 3:12. Pairs with Isa 62:2; thematic coherence with the eschatological renaming of God's servants.

You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name:


The naming of the eschatological city ('Yahweh is there') is the structural model for 'the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem' (3:12). Ezekiel's temple-city vision (40–48) deeply shapes Rev's New Jerusalem; high recurrence + thematic fit.

It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.


'In my house and within my walls... an everlasting name that will not be cut off' — a name + permanence in the temple, behind 'a pillar in the temple of my God... go out no more' + the inscribed name (3:12). Combines the pillar/temple and new-name motifs.

to them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.


Zion adorned 'like a bride' — faint background to the new Jerusalem coming down (developed fully in Rev 21:2). Diffuse here; stronger later in Revelation.

Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.


'Whom Yahweh loves, he reproves' — directly behind 3:19 'As many as I love, I reprove and chasten.' Very high verbal correspondence (love + reprove/discipline pairing). Rev tracks LXX Prov 3:12 (ὃν γὰρ ἀγαπᾷ κύριος παιδεύει), which Hebrews 12:5–6 also cites.

My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof: for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loves, he rebukes, and scourges every son whom he receives.


Ephraim's self-deceived boast: 'I have become rich... they won't find in me any iniquity' — the precise prophetic template for Laodicea's 'I am rich... have need of nothing' while truly wretched (3:17). Strong thematic+structural correspondence: false self-assessment of wealth/innocence.

Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.”


Refining the remnant in fire 'as gold is tested' until 'they will call on my name' — behind 'buy from me gold refined by fire' (3:18). Refinement-by-fire + covenant-renewal motif. High thematic coherence.

I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”


'Come... buy... without money' — the paradox of buying from God without price stands behind the ironic counsel 'buy from me gold' (3:18). Distinctive 'buy' (ἀγοράζω) imperative addressed to the spiritually destitute.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


'The God of truth' / 'Amen' — Hebrew 'elohe amen behind the self-designation 'The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness' (3:14). Distinctive: Isaiah is the only OT text invoking blessing/oath 'by the God of ’amen.' LXX renders ἀληθινός, losing the 'amen'; Rev preserves the Hebrew ʾmēn, suggesting dependence on the Hebrew.

so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.


'The Beginning of God's creation' (3:14) evokes the creation account; ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως plays on Gen 1:1 'In the beginning.' Figural rather than verbal allusion; debated whether Christ is first creature or origin of creation.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


Personified Wisdom 'in the beginning of his work' — a Wisdom-Christology background to 'the Beginning (ἀρχή) of God's creation' (3:14). Contested: feeds later Arian debates; thematic, not verbatim.

“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.


'I, Yahweh, search the mind... give every man according to his ways' — the divine-knowledge formula behind the repeated 'I know your works' (3:15, also 3:1, 3:8). Diffuse across the letters; thematic coherence with judgment by deeds.

I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.


'The voice of my beloved who knocks: Open to me' — a striking verbal parallel to 3:20 'I stand at the door and knock... if anyone... opens the door.' Contested as deliberate allusion vs. shared idiom; volume is notable (knock + open + voice of the beloved).

I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”


Enthronement 'sit at my right hand' — background to 'sit down with me on my throne' (3:21). The most-cited NT enthronement psalm; co-regency of the victor mirrors the Son's session. Thematic+structural.

Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”


'Behold, I will do a new thing' — faint resonance with Revelation's pervasive newness (new name, new Jerusalem in 3:12; 'new' here only ambient). Diffuse; included for maximal inventory.

Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.


Foundational throne-vision template. Volume (Ezekiel's inaugural call vision is the master text behind all of Rev 4-5), verbal recurrence, and structural agreement are all strong: a heavenly throne with One enthroned, surrounded by encircling brightness explicitly likened to a rainbow (iris/qeshet). The gemstone description — sapphire throne, glowing metal, fire all around — supplies the radiant-jewel idiom Revelation translates into jasper, sardius, and emerald. Reticent (Hays): John shows the One on the throne only by mineral light, declining to describe a human form as Ezekiel does (anthropomorphism muted, perhaps deliberately reverential). LXX of Ezek 1:26 uses sappheirou; Rev shifts the stone vocabulary toward Exod 28 breastplate gems.

Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above. I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. As […]


The rainbow (iris) encircling the throne is a near-verbatim conceptual borrowing of this verse specifically. Distinctive: of all OT theophanies only Ezekiel 1:28 rings the divine glory with a rainbow, so the criterion of distinctiveness is met sharply. LXX renders the Hebrew qeshet with toxon; Rev's iris is the more usual Greek for the meteorological bow (cf. Gen 9 LXX toxon), so John is not slavishly following LXX vocabulary but the image. Also evokes the Noahic covenant bow (Gen 9:13-16) — mercy framing the judgment-throne; listed separately as a contested secondary echo.

As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.


Contested. The rainbow around the throne may carry the Noahic covenant-of-mercy resonance, softening the throne of judgment with a sign of restraint before the seals open in Rev 6. Thematic coherence is good but verbal volume is low — Rev does not echo Genesis wording, and the primary literary source of the bow image is Ezek 1:28, not Genesis. Held at low confidence as a figural overtone.

I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. When I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every […]


“I will show you the things which must happen after this” (ha dei genesthai meta tauta) reproduces the apocalyptic-disclosure formula of Daniel 2:28-29 LXX/Theodotion (ha dei genesthai... — what God reveals as what must take place). The Greek dei (divine necessity) plus the temporal phrase is verbally distinctive and recurs as a structural frame across Revelation (1:1; 1:19; 22:6). Theodotion's Daniel is the closer textual base than the OG. The formula reframes the whole vision as Danielic unveiling of the determined future.

but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these: as for you, O king, your thoughts came on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what shall happen.


The summoning “voice... like a trumpet” recalls the Sinai theophany, where the trumpet blast accompanies God's self-revelation atop the mountain. Coherence with the broader Sinai background of Rev 4 (the thunder/lightning of v.5 also draws on this verse) strengthens the link; the trumpet-as-divine-voice is a recurring Sinai motif (cf. Exod 20:18; Heb 12:19). Medium because the trumpet in Rev 1:10/4:1 may primarily be conventional apocalyptic angelophany rather than a deliberate Sinai citation.

On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.


Micaiah's throne-council vision — “I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne” with the heavenly host attending — is one of the canonical divine-council scenes that stands behind Rev 4's enthroned One surrounded by attendant beings. Recurrence of the prophetic throne-vision type-scene; shares vocabulary of seeing the LORD seated (kathemenon epi tou thronou). Medium: the council/host motif is fully developed in vv.4-10, so this verse is more a generic backdrop than a pinpoint source for vv.1-3.

Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.


“Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders” is a direct Sinai-theophany cluster: astrapai kai phonai kai brontai is the fixed triad Revelation repeats at every major hinge (4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18), and it derives from the thunders-and-lightnings of the Sinai descent. Distinctive and recurrent: the three-fold storm formula is a signature Revelation idiom rooting the throne in the mountain of the giving of the Law. LXX Exod 19:16 has phonai kai astrapai — the same lexemes John reorders. Strong on volume and recurrence.


The “sea of glass, similar to crystal” before the throne echoes the pavement under God's feet at Sinai — “like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness” — the transparent, sky-clear floor of the divine presence. Coherence and distinctiveness: a crystalline transparent expanse beneath/before God is rare and concentrated here and in Ezek 1:22. LXX Exod 24:10 reads hosei ergon plinthou sappheirou kai hosper eidos stereomatos tou ouranou — the firmament-clearness John captures with hyalini... homoia krystallo. Pairs with Ezek 1:22 as joint source.

They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.


“Sea of glass, similar to crystal” draws the word crystal (krystallos) directly from Ezekiel's firmament “like an awesome crystal” spread over the living creatures' heads. Verbal distinctiveness is high: krystallos is the rare shared term, and Ezekiel's expanse stands in the same throne-vision John is reworking, so coherence is total. John relocates the crystalline expanse from above the creatures (Ezek) to before the throne (a sea), combining it with the Sinai pavement (Exod 24:10). LXX Ezek 1:22 uses krystallos, so John follows the Greek lexeme closely.

Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like the awesome crystal to look on, stretched out over their heads above.


The “seven lamps of fire burning before his throne” identified as “the seven Spirits of God” fuses Zechariah's golden lampstand of seven lamps with his interpretation (Zech 4:6, 'not by might... but by my Spirit') and the sevenfold spirit of Isa 11:2. Distinctiveness: seven lamps explicitly equated with the divine Spirit(s) is a uniquely Zecharian configuration. NOTE: this verse's text could not be retrieved verbatim from bible-api.com (repeated HTTP 429); the bracketed WEB text is supplied from the World English Bible but was NOT fetched live and should be re-verified. Strong on coherence and recurrence (Rev 1:4; 5:6 also use the seven Spirits/seven lamps).

He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;


Contested source for the twenty-four enthroned “elders.” Isaiah envisions Yahweh reigning “before his elders... in glory,” the only OT throne-text that explicitly seats elders in the divine presence-glory (cf. Exod 24:9-10, the seventy elders who see God). Thematic coherence is suggestive — enthroned elders around the reigning LORD — but verbal volume is thin and the number twenty-four (24 priestly/Levitical courses, 1 Chr 24-25; or 12+12) is not from Isaiah. Held at low/contested.

Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Armies will reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and before his elders will be glory.


The “seven Spirits of God” likely also draws on the sevenfold enumeration of the Spirit resting on the Davidic shoot (LXX Isa 11:2 lists seven spirit-gifts, expanding the Hebrew six with an added 'piety'). Coherence with Revelation's seven-Spirits theology is good. NOTE: text supplied from WEB but NOT fetched live (rate-limit avoidance); flagged for verification. The LXX-vs-Hebrew divergence is itself the basis of the 'seven' (Hebrew has six pairs); John's sevenfold count tracks the Greek tradition.

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.


The “four living creatures” (tessara zoa) with the faces of lion, ox/calf, man, and eagle is a direct dependence on Ezekiel's four living creatures (LXX zoa). Volume, distinctiveness, and recurrence are maximal: the very phrase 'living creatures' and the exact four faces are Ezekiel's. John redistributes the faces (Ezekiel: each creature has all four faces; Rev: each creature bears one face) and substitutes 'calf/ox' (Ezek 'ox', moschos in LXX = Rev 'calf'). LXX Ezek 1:10 supplies the lexical set. The cherubic creatures become heavenly worship-leaders in Revelation.

Out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings. Their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass. They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings thus: their wings were […]


The Trisagion — “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty” — and the six wings are lifted from Isaiah's seraphim. Distinctiveness and volume are at their peak: the threefold 'Holy' (LXX hagios hagios hagios) and the six wings (hex pteryges) are Isaiah's signature, found nowhere else in this configuration. John conflates Isaiah's six-winged seraphim with Ezekiel's four-faced cherubim (eyes all around) into a single composite order. 'Lord God Almighty' (kyrios ho theos ho pantokrator) renders the Hebrew 'Yahweh of Armies / Yahweh Sabaoth' that LXX often gives as kyrios sabaoth or pantokrator. Echo of glory-filling-the-earth underlies Rev's cosmic doxology.

In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!” The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was […]


“Full of eyes before and behind... around and within” draws the eyes-all-around motif from Ezekiel 10:12 (the second cherubim vision), where the creatures' whole bodies and wheels are full of eyes. Distinctiveness is high — bodies covered in eyes is a peculiarly Ezekielan detail. John transfers the eyes from the wheels/bodies (Ezek 1:18; 10:12) onto the wings/bodies of the creatures themselves. Pairs with Ezek 1:18 below as the dual source of the eyes.

Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had.


Companion source to Ezek 10:12 for the “full of eyes” detail; here the eyes are on the rims of the wheels, 'full of eyes all around' (kykloi auton, plereis ophthalmon in LXX). The phrase 'full of eyes all around' (gemonta ophthalmon kyklothen) in Rev 4:8 echoes this Greek closely. Distinctive, recurrent within Ezekiel, and verbally tight.

As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.


“Him who lives forever and ever” (to zonti eis tous aionas ton aionon) is the Danielic divine title for the eternally-living God whom even Nebuchadnezzar blesses (Dan 4:34; cf. Dan 6:26; 12:7). Distinctiveness: this 'the one who lives forever' formula is a hallmark of Daniel and the Second-Temple liturgical vocabulary Revelation inherits. Theodotion Dan 4:34 has zonti eis ton aiona; Rev expands to the plural-of-eternity. Coherent with Revelation's repeated use of the title (1:18; 10:6; 15:7).

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation.


The title “who was and who is and who is to come” paraphrases the divine self-identification of Deutero-Isaiah — 'I, Yahweh, the first... and the last, I am he' — the eternity formula Revelation triples into past-present-future (cf. Isa 44:6; 48:12). Coherence is strong with Revelation's Alpha-and-Omega theology, but the threefold temporal expansion is John's own (likely shaped by Hellenistic-Jewish renderings of the divine Name / Exod 3:14 'I am who I am' tradition). Medium: conceptual, not verbal, dependence on this specific verse.

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”


“Who was and who is and who is to come” is widely read as a temporal paraphrase of the divine Name revealed at the bush — the ehyeh / 'I AM' of Exod 3:14 — expanded across the three tenses in line with Targumic and Hellenistic-Jewish triple-time glosses of the Tetragrammaton. Coherence is high; this is a contested-but-common scholarly identification. NOTE: text supplied from WEB, NOT fetched live (rate-limit avoidance) — flag for verification. LXX Exod 3:14 ego eimi ho on ('the Being One') is itself the ontological reading Rev's formula presupposes.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”


The creation-doxology — “you created all things... they existed, and were created,” worshiped by the heavenly host — strongly parallels the Levites' confession: 'You alone... made heaven... the earth and all things on it... and the army of heaven worships you.' Coherence and structural agreement are excellent: God as sole Creator of all, adored by the heavenly army, is exactly the logic of Rev 4:11. Distinctive shared move: the worth/worship of God grounded precisely in his having created and preserved all things. LXX 2 Esdras 19:6 supplies the Greek base.

You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.


“Because of your desire they existed, and were created” echoes the creation-by-the-word/will theology of Ps 33 — 'he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood firm.' The link between God's will/word and things coming into being is the conceptual engine of Rev 4:11b. LXX Ps 32:9 autos eipen kai egenethesan, autos eneteilato kai ektisthesan — note ektisthesan ('they were created'), the very verb Rev 4:11 ends on. Strong verbal coherence in the Greek; God's bare will effecting creation.

By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear Yahweh. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm.


Supports the creation-doxology of v.11 — God as the one who 'laid the foundation of the earth' and whose hands made the heavens — part of the OT creator-praise pool (cf. Ps 8; Ps 95:5; Ps 146:6) on which Rev 4:11 draws. Medium because it is general creator-language rather than a pinpoint verbal source; Neh 9:6 and Ps 33:6-9 are the closer parallels. LXX Ps 101:26 kat' archas su... ten gen ethemeliosas.

Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.


Second-Temple parallel: the unsleeping watchers ceaselessly chanting the Trisagion before God's glory — strikingly close to Rev 4:8's creatures who 'have no rest day and night' singing 'Holy, holy, holy.' Demonstrates that John works within a living apocalyptic liturgical tradition (Isa 6 mediated through Enochic worship-scenes), not Isaiah alone. Low confidence by editorial convention (non-canonical, not fetchable in WEB) but historically a high-value coherence parallel for the ceaseless angelic Sanctus. LXX-vs-Hebrew not applicable; Greek/Ethiopic Enoch tradition.

[source text not in the World English Bible]


The throne-and-courtroom setting with multiple thrones (Dan 7:9 'thrones were placed') and the surrounding myriads who serve and worship (Dan 7:10) lies behind the assembled worship of Rev 4:9-11 and the twenty-four thrones of v.4. Coherence with Revelation's pervasive Danielic frame is strong; the plural 'thrones' is distinctive. Medium for this pericope because the explicit creatures/Trisagion are from Ezekiel/Isaiah; Daniel 7 most directly governs the enthronement and the surrounding council. Theodotion Dan 7:9-10 supplies the Greek throne-of-fire imagery.

I saw until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.


Hays: high verbal volume — the rare detail of a scroll 'written inside and outside / within and without' is shared almost verbatim, and the prophetic-call setting (a heavenly hand presenting a written-on-both-sides scroll to the seer) is recurrent. John conflates Ezekiel's two-sided scroll with Daniel's sealing. The double-sided writing signals a complete, fixed decree with no room left to add. WEB Greek 'gegrammenon esōthen kai opisthen' tracks the Hebrew 'written within and without'; LXX Ezekiel renders similarly.

When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein; He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.


Hays: thematic + verbal coherence — the motif of a 'sealed book' (sphragizō / sealed) reserved 'to the time of the end' supplies the eschatological logic of Revelation 5: the sealed scroll contains the end-time decree that only the worthy one may unseal. Daniel 12 is the closest source for sealing a book until the appointed time; cf. also Daniel 8:26; 12:9. Septuagint/Theodotion both use sphragizō, matching Revelation's vocabulary.

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run back and forth, and knowledge shall be increased.”


Hays: high — explicit messianic title 'the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah' draws directly on Jacob's blessing, the foundational text linking Judah to a lion and to enduring rule ('scepter will not depart'). Early Jewish/Christian reading took 'until he comes to whom it belongs' (Shiloh) messianically. The lion of Judah and the unfailing scepter together yield the conquering ruler John names. LXX 'heōs an elthē ta apokeimena autō' was read messianically in Second Temple sources.

Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.


Hays: high — the second title in 5:5, 'the Root of David,' fuses Isaiah's 'shoot/branch from the stock of Jesse' (11:1) and 'the root of Jesse' to whom 'the nations will seek' (11:10). John transposes 'root of Jesse' to 'Root of David' (cf. Revelation 22:16), keeping the Davidic-messianic 'rizah Iessai' of LXX Isaiah 11:10, which Paul also cites (Romans 15:12). Pairing Lion-of-Judah with Root-of-David binds Genesis 49 and Isaiah 11 into one messianic identity.

A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.


Hays: medium — supplies the precise scene of a sealed book that no one is able to read/open, with the futile search for a reader echoing John's search for one 'worthy to open the book.' Reinforces the Ezekiel/Daniel scroll cluster: revelation is locked until the qualified one breaks the seal. Verbal link is the sealed-book ('sepher chatum') unable to be opened.

All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please”; and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed:”


Hays: low / contested — lion-of-conquest imagery is widespread (Jer 49:19; 50:44; Hos 11:10; Amos 3:8), so the 'Lion' of 5:5 need not depend on any one beyond Genesis 49. Listed as a faint reinforcing background to the lion motif, not a primary source; Genesis 49 remains the controlling intertext. Marked low because verbal specificity is lacking and the phrase here is not the fetched WEB wording.

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd who will stand before me?


Hays: high — 'a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain' draws on the Servant who is silently 'led to the slaughter' like a lamb. The redemptive-by-death logic that grounds the Lamb's worthiness is Isaiah 53's vicarious suffering. Note lexical divergence: Revelation favors 'arnion' for the slain Lamb, while LXX Isaiah 53:7 uses 'probaton/amnos'; the figural link is conceptual (sacrificial slaughter) more than verbatim, which is why the Passover lamb is a co-source.

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth.


Hays: high (figural) — the slain-yet-standing Lamb evokes the Passover lamb slaughtered by 'the whole assembly,' whose blood redeems (Exod 12:13). Combined with 5:9 ('bought us... with your blood, out of every... nation'), the new-exodus/Passover typology is unmistakable. The Lamb's death effects a redemption patterned on Passover deliverance from Egypt.

Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.


Hays: high — the Lamb's 'seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth' is a near-citation of Zechariah's 'seven... these are Yahweh's eyes, which run... through the whole earth.' John identifies the seven eyes with the sevenfold Spirit, fusing Zechariah's omniscient divine eyes with the lampstand vision (Zech 4:2). Strong verbal recurrence of 'seven' + 'eyes' + 'whole/all the earth.'

Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of Yahweh, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”


Hays: medium — the wider Zechariah 4 lampstand vision underlies John's identification of the 'seven eyes' with 'the seven Spirits of God': the seven lamps and the explanatory 'by my Spirit' link the sevenfold lamps to the divine Spirit. Reinforces 5:6 and the 'seven Spirits' motif of Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5.

He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;


Hays: medium — the explanatory gloss 'golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints' rests on the established figure equating incense with prayer ascending to God. Psalm 141:2 is the classic verse making prayer = incense; cf. also the temple incense of Exod 30 and Luke 1:10. Conceptual echo rather than verbal quotation.

Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.


Hays: high — 'They sang a new song' takes up the formulaic 'new song' (shir chadash / asma kainon) of the Psalter, sung in response to God's saving victory. Psalm 98 is the strongest match because the new song celebrates accomplished 'salvation,' paralleling the Lamb's redemptive victory. LXX 'asma kainon' matches Revelation's 'ōdēn kainēn.'

Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand, and his holy arm, have worked salvation for him.


Hays: high — 'made us kings and priests to our God' (cf. 1:6; 20:6) directly applies Sinai's vocation of Israel as 'a kingdom of priests' to the redeemed of every nation. John democratizes/universalizes the Exodus covenant identity. Note textual variants: Greek tradition splits between 'a kingdom, priests' (cf. LXX 'basileion hierateuma') and 'kings and priests'; WEB here renders 'kings and priests.' The Sinai source is secure; cf. 1 Peter 2:9.

and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”


Hays: medium — part of the 'new song' formula cluster (Pss 33:3; 96:1; 144:9; 149:1) that stands behind 5:9. Paired here with the harps of 5:8 ('Play skillfully'), reinforcing the liturgical 'new song' background. Less specific than Ps 98 because it lacks the explicit salvation/redemption note.

Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy!


Hays: medium — adds the universal scope ('all the earth') that matches the Lamb's redeemed 'out of every tribe, language, people, and nation' and the closing 'we will reign on the earth.' Member of the new-song formula cluster; reinforces but does not uniquely control 5:9.

Sing to Yahweh a new song! Sing to Yahweh, all the earth.


Hays: low — included for completeness in the 'new song' + stringed-instrument cluster (cf. the harps of 5:8). The 'ten-stringed lyre' parallels the heavenly harps, but the link is generic; Ps 98 and Ps 96 carry the load. Faint, formulaic echo.

I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.


Hays: medium — the fourfold 'every tribe, language, people, and nation' echoes Daniel's recurrent 'peoples, nations, and languages' (Dan 3:4; 5:19; 7:14), and the granting of an everlasting 'kingdom' to the son of man undergirds 'made us... and we will reign on the earth.' Daniel 7 supplies both the universal-peoples formula and the kingdom-to-the-saints theme (Dan 7:27).

There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


Hays: high — 'ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands' is a near-verbatim adoption of Daniel's heavenly-court formula 'thousands of thousands... ten thousand times ten thousand' attending the Ancient of Days. John relocates this innumerable angelic host around the throne and the Lamb. The shared context (heavenly throne-room, opened books/sealed scroll) makes this the controlling intertext for 5:11. LXX/Theodotion 'chiliai chiliades... myriai myriades' matches Revelation's wording.

A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.


Hays: high — 'every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea' enacts the cosmic, totalizing praise of Psalm 148, which summons every creature of heaven, earth, and sea to praise. John structures the doxology by the same heaven/earth/sea/under-earth merism. The universal sweep of creation's worship is the Psalm's signature.

Praise Yahweh from the earth, you great sea creatures, and all depths! Lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word; mountains and all hills; fruit trees and all cedars; wild animals and all livestock; small creatures and flying birds; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children: let them praise Yahweh’s name, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is […]


Hays: high — the sevenfold acclamation 'power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing' and the doxology 'blessing, honor, glory, and dominion' draw on David's catalogue of divine attributes ('the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, the majesty... the kingdom'). The piling of abstract honors ascribed to God — now jointly to God and the Lamb — patterns on this temple-dedication doxology. Reinforces the worthiness language of 4:11; 7:12.

Yours, Yahweh, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty! For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, Yahweh, and you are exalted as head above all.


Hays: medium — the ascription of 'the dominion, forever and ever' to the one on the throne and the Lamb echoes Daniel's grant of everlasting 'dominion' and 'glory' to the son of man. Pairs with Dan 7:10 in 5:11; the same chapter supplies both the angelic myriads and the eternal dominion that frame the doxology's climax.


Hays: low / contested — Second Temple apocalyptic (1 Enoch 39:12–40:1; 60:1; 71:8) shares Revelation's scene of innumerable angelic myriads ceaselessly blessing the enthroned Lord, suggesting a common throne-vision milieu rather than direct dependence. Daniel 7:10 remains the canonical source. Included to register the Enochic background of the angelic-host doxology; not available in WEB, hence marked deuterocanonical/low.

[source text not in the World English Bible]


The four chariots/horses of differing colors (red, black, white, dappled/grey) going out to the four winds of the earth are the master-template for the four horsemen; high verbal volume (colored horses sent out across the earth) plus thematic coherence of patrolling agents of divine judgment. John adapts the imagery to emissaries of conquest, war, famine, and death.

Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses; in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful. Then I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out […]


The night vision of colored horses (red, sorrel, white) that patrol and report that the earth 'sits at rest' supplies the same color-coded equine imagery; recurrence of the Zecharian horse motif strengthens the link, though here the horses bring war rather than report peace.

“I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.” They reported to Yahweh’s […]


Ezekiel's four 'severe judgments'—sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence—match the fourth seal's quartet (sword, famine, death/pestilence, wild animals of the earth) almost exactly; high verbal volume and thematic coherence make this the clearest source for v. 8.

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!


The covenant curses—sword, wild beasts that bereave, pestilence, and famine rationed by weight ('bread by weight')—underlie both the fourth seal's plagues and the third seal's scales of scarcity; LXX uses similar judgment vocabulary, reinforcing the covenant-curse coherence.

“‘If you walk contrary to me, and won’t listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins. I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. Your roads will become desolate. “‘If by these things you won’t be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me; then I will also walk contrary to you; and I will strike you, even I, seven times for […]


Jeremiah's fourfold appointment to death, the sword, famine, and captivity (with dogs, birds, and beasts to devour) parallels the seals' instruments of slaughter; recurrence of the prophetic 'four kinds' formula supports the echo.

It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go out? Then you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity. I will appoint over them four kinds, says Yahweh: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.


God riding with horses and chariots of salvation, bow made bare, may faintly color the bow-bearing first rider; verbal overlap is thin (horses, bow) and the contexts differ, so the link is contested.

Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation? You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.


The royal warrior who rides forth victorious with sharp arrows, conquering, may tint the white rider 'conquering and to conquer'; thematic coherence of triumphal advance, but verbal volume is low.

Strap your sword on your thigh, mighty one: your splendor and your majesty. In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.


The angel's intercessory cry 'O LORD of hosts, how long?' is the proximate model for the martyrs' 'How long, Master, the holy and true?'; high verbal volume in the lament-formula and shared apocalyptic setting (within the same Zecharian horse-vision matrix used in 6:1-8) give strong coherence.

Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”


The plea 'How long, O LORD?... avenge the outpoured blood of your servants' supplies both the 'how long' lament and the explicit appeal to avenge the blood of God's slain servants; very strong thematic and verbal coherence with vv. 10.

How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you; on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name; For they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland. Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our […]


The Song of Moses promises that God will 'avenge the blood of his servants' and render vengeance on adversaries; the verbal core (avenge / blood / servants) is echoed directly in the martyrs' petition. LXX expands the blood-vengeance language, sharpening the parallel.

Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people.

Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall purge the land of his people.