Texts in Conversation
Revelation describes the sea, Death, and Hades giving up the dead. 4 Ezra presents the same scene, with the earth and hidden stores returning bodies. Both reflect a shared tradition where creation releases everything, so no one is hidden from judgment.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4 Ezra 4:41
2 Esdras
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
40 So he answered me, “Go your way to a woman with child, and ask of her when she has fulfilled her nine months, if her womb may keep the baby any longer within her.” 41 Then I said, “No, Lord, it cannot.” He said to me, “In Hades, the chambers of souls are like the womb. 42 For just like a woman in labor hurries to escape the anguish of the labor pains, even so these places hurry to deliver those things that are committed to them from the beginning. 43 Then you will be shown those things which you desire to see.”
Date: 70–132 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Revelation 20:13
New Testament
11 Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.
Date: 92–96 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The first maternal metaphor concerning the earth in 4 Ezra, 4:40–42 is associated with the resurrection of the dead. The language in those verses of “giving back” the dead is also found in the description of the resurrection in 4 Ezra 7:32: “And the earth shall give back those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who rest in it, and the treasuries shall give up the souls which have been committed to them.” As Richard Bauckham has shown, the language of the earth or underworld “giving back” or “returning” (Syriac of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch) the dead is quite widespread in Jewish apocalyptic literature, as well as in later Christian and Jewish texts. He suggests that the tradition originated from an interpretation of the end of Isaiah 26:19, וארץ רפאים תפיל, understood to mean “the earth will give birth to the shades” (compare the usage in Isaiah 26:18) ..."
Karina M. Hogan, “The Apocalyptic Eschatology of Romans,” in The Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the Shaping of New Testament Thought, ed. Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), 155–174.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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