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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 11

1 Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, and I was told, “Get up and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the ones who worship there. 2 But do not measure the outer courtyard of the temple; leave it out because it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.⁠ 3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy⁠ for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” 4 (These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.)⁠ 5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way. 6 These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want. 7 When they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. 8 Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified. 9 For three and a half days those from every people, tribe, nation, and language will look at their corpses because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate, even sending gifts to each other because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and tremendous fear seized those who were watching them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: “Come up here!” So the two prophets went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies stared at them. 13 Just then a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has come and gone; the third is coming quickly. 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”⁠ 16 Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God 17 with these words: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God in heaven was opened,⁠ and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple.⁠ And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Jeremiah 3:16 and Revelation 11:19

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation depicts the Ark as a visible and significant part of a heavenly vision during its eschatological narrative, which contrasts with Jeremiah’s portrayal of a future where the Ark is no longer remembered or needed.

Passages

Jeremiah 3:16

Hebrew Bible
15 I will give you leaders who will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and insight. 16 In those days, your population will multiply and become fruitful34 in the land. At that time,” says the Lord, “people will no longer talk about having the ark that contains the Lord’s covenant with us. They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done anymore! 17 At that time the city of Jerusalem will be called the Lord’s throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s name. They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

Revelation 11:19

New Testament
18 The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... this addresses the former cultic significance of the Ark, which has now been superseded by a new theological conception ... within the eschatological conception, such a role for any cultic objects, of which the Ark is a representative, is no longer necessary. This is not a blanket critique of cultic objects as such; rather it is a response to doubts, complaints, or laments over the Ark’s loss, or to discussions about the need to recreate it in the post-exilic period. The answer to such tendencies is found in verse 17, without which verse 16 would lack its proper context. The connection between the two verses is already suggested by the introductory formula “they shall no longer say” (compare Jeremiah 23:7), which demands something new in relation to the past. That new element is the declaration identifying Jerusalem as the “throne of God.” Although Jeremiah 3:16–17 requires reference to Jeremiah 23 and 31, the idea of renewing the earlier covenant—which had been broken—is absent from those passages ..."
Janusz Lemański, “No One Will Say Anymore: The Ark of the Covenant of YHWH,” Verbum Vitae 43.4 (2025): 1209–1222.

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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Jeremiah 3:16 and Revelation 11:19

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