Texts in Conversation
Revelation’s description of Babylon making the nations drunk with the wine of her wrath recalls Jeremiah’s portrayal of Babylon as a golden cup in God’s hand, intoxicating the whole world. In Jeremiah, the metaphor describes divine judgment turning back on the empire itself.
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Jeremiah 51:7
Hebrew Bible
6 Get out of Babylonia quickly, you foreign people. Flee to save your lives. Do not let yourselves be killed because of her sins, for it is time for the Lord to wreak his revenge. He will pay Babylonia back for what she has done. 7 Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand; she had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath, so they have all gone mad. 8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. Cry out in mourning over it! Get medicine for her wounds; perhaps she can be healed! 9 Foreigners living there will say, ‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let’s leave Babylonia and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’ 10 The exiles from Judah will say, ‘The Lord has brought about a great deliverance for us! Come on, let’s go and proclaim in Zion what the Lord our God has done!’
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Revelation 14:8
New Testament
6 Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people. 7 He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!” 8 A second angel followed the first, declaring: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city! She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.” 9 A third angel followed the first two, declaring in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, 10 that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.
Date: 92-96 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The third type of language John the Seer employs to critique Rome as a deceitful city is the language of drunkenness: μεθύσκω (“to get drunk”; 17:2), πίνω (“to drink”; 18:3), and οἴνου (“wine”; 17:2; 18:3, compare 18:13). In 17:2, the Seer writes that the kings of the earth committed fornication with the harlot while the inhabitants of the earth “were made drunk [ἐμεθύσθησαν] with the wine [οἴνου] of her fornication.” First of all, we should note that the language of drunkenness, (such as “cup of wrath” or “wine of wrath”), is commonly used as a metaphor in the prophetic tradition for God’s judgment against nations. Rossing also suggests that the phrase “wine of wrath” in Revelation 14:8 (and also Revelation 14:10; 16:19; 18:3; 19:15) may echo the imagery of the “wine of wrath” in Jeremiah 25:15, in which Jeremiah uses this imagery to symbolize the judgment of God against “all nations.” ..."
Tipvarakankoon, Wiriya
The Theme of Deception in the Book of Revelation: Bringing Early Christian and Contemporary Thai Cultures into Dialogue
(pp. 202-203) Claremont Press, 2017
* 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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