Texts in Conversation
Revelation’s call to “come out of Babylon” echoes Jeremiah’s warning for the people to flee the city before it collapses. Revelation uses the language as a call to separate from a corrupt power symbolized by Babylon.
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Jeremiah 51:45
Hebrew Bible
43 The towns of Babylonia have become heaps of ruins. She has become a dry and barren desert. No one lives in those towns any more; no one even passes through them. 44 I will punish the god Bel in Babylon. I will make him spit out what he has swallowed. The nations will not come streaming to him any longer. Indeed, the walls of Babylon will fall. 45 “Get out of Babylon, my people! Flee to save your lives from the fierce anger of the Lord! 46 Do not lose your courage or become afraid because of the reports that are heard in the land. For a report will come in one year. Another report will follow it in the next. There will be violence in the land with ruler fighting against ruler.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Revelation 18:4
New Testament
3 For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.” 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues, 5 because her sins have piled up all the way to heaven and God has remembered her crimes. 6 Repay her the same way she repaid others; pay her back double corresponding to her deeds. In the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her.
Date: 92-96 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Interestingly, the book of Revelation has many quotations or allusions to the book of Jeremiah, including about a dozen texts from chapters 50–51. Revelation 18:2-19 picks up on the theme of wailing over Babylon (= Rome) in a taunting dirge for the fallen city. Just as with Israel, Christians are summoned to flee the city (Revelation 18:4). The image of drinking/pouring out the wine of God’s wrath, used in 51:7 (see also 25:15-29) is utilized in Revelation 18:3. In Revelation 18:5, the sins of Babylon are piled so high that they have reached heaven and God remembers their iniquities; in Jeremiah 51:9, it is their judgment (= the effects of their sins) that has reached the heavens. The image of Babylon as a volcano (51:25-26) is also picked up in Revelation 18:8-9. The image of the harvest in 51:22 is referred to in Revelation 14:14-15. The announcement of judgment on Babylon that its sea would become dry (51:36) may be echoed in the promise of Revelation 21:1 that the sea would be no more. The rejoicing of heaven and earth at the defeat of Babylon (51:48) is appropriated by Revelation 18:20. The symbolic act of Seraiah in throwing Jeremiah’s scroll into the Euphrates (51:59-64) is adapted in Revelation 18:21 ..."
* 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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