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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 10

1 Then I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head;⁠ his face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.⁠ 2 He held in his hand a little scroll that was open,⁠ and he put his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. 3 Then he shouted in a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded their voices.⁠ 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was preparing to write, but just then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders spoke and do not write it down.”⁠ 5 Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, and the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, “There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God is completed, just as he has proclaimed to his servants the prophets.”⁠ 8 Then the voice I had heard from heaven began to speak to me again, “Go and take the open scroll in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”⁠ 10 So I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it did taste as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 Then they told me: “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 2:8 and Revelation 10:9

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation shows John eating a scroll, drawing on Ezekiel’s vision where a prophet eats a scroll of lament. In Ezekiel, this marks his call to announce judgment to a rebellious people, and Revelation uses it to announce judgment to the world.

Passages

Ezekiel 2:8

Hebrew Bible
6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words. Even though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions—do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, for they are a rebellious house! 7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. 8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” 9 Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. 10 He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front and back; written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

Revelation 10:9

New Testament
8 Then the voice I had heard from heaven began to speak to me again, “Go and take the open scroll in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 So I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it did taste as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 Then they told me: “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... Ezekiel, in conversation with a heavenly voice identified with the Lord God (compare Ezekiel 2:4), receives a κεφαλὶς βιβλίου which “a hand” (a circumlocution for the deity) spreads out before him. The prophet notices that the scroll is written on the front and the back, a description similar to that of the βιβλίον in Revelation 5:1 (ἔσωθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν). In Revelation 10:2, it is the ἄλλον ἄγγελον ἰσχυρόν who holds a βιβλαρίδιον that is already open, but other than the use of the diminutive and the fact that the scroll is open, we know nothing of the physical nature of the scroll at the beginning of Revelation 10. Ezekiel 3:1–3 / Revelation 10:8–10 concern the handing over of a scroll and the directive to eat it. In Revelation 10:8, a “voice from heaven” (which had already addressed him in verse 4) orders the seer to approach the angel holding the scroll and request it from him, and that angel instructs John to eat it. In Ezekiel 2:8–3:3, the heavenly voice is the one who urges the prophet to consume the scroll, repeating the command to eat no less than four times in the Hebrew text. In both Revelation and Ezekiel, the visionary experiences the scroll as sweet in his mouth. In Ezekiel 3:3b, the prophet simply reports that the scroll is sweet; no one tells him in advance that this will be the case. In Revelation 10:9, the angel informs the seer that the scroll will “embitter your stomach,” but will be sweet in his mouth. This embittering after-effect does not occur in Ezekiel 3 ..."
Leslie A. Baynes, The Heavenly Book Motif in Judeo-Christian Apocalypses, 200 B.C.E.–200 C.E., Journal for the Study of Judaism 152 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 160–161.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Ezekiel 2:8 and Revelation 10:9

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