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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 14

1 Then I looked, and here was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000, who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 I also heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.⁠ Now the sound I heard was like that made by harpists playing their harps, 3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, 5 and no lie was found on their lips; they are blameless. 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.⁠ 11 And the smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.”⁠ 12 This requires the steadfast endurance of the saints—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus. 13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them.” 14 Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man!⁠ He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!”⁠ 16 So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he, too, had a sharp sickle. 18 Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe.”⁠ 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth and tossed them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.⁠ 20 Then the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles for a distance of almost 200 miles.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 34:10 and Revelation 14:11

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Revelation’s description of smoke rising forever mirrors Isaiah’s description of Edom’s desolation after judgment, where its burning land also smokes forever. In Isaiah, this language conveys total ruin after divine judgment.

Passages

Isaiah 34:10

Hebrew Bible
7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them, as well as strong bulls. Their land is drenched with blood, their soil is covered with fat. 8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge, a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion. 9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch and her soil into brimstone; her land will become burning pitch. 10 Night and day it will burn; its smoke will ascend continually. Generation after generation it will be a wasteland, and no one will ever pass through it again. 11 Owls and wild animals will live there, all kinds of wild birds will settle in it. The Lord will stretch out over her the measuring line of ruin and the plumb line of destruction.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Revelation 14:11

New Testament
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. 11 And the smoke from their torture will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.” 12 This requires the steadfast endurance of the saints—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... “The smoke of their torment ascends forever.” The image here is based on the sight of a conquered city burning in the distance (Joshua 8:20; Judges 20:40; Revelation 18:9–10, 18). More specifically, there may be an allusion here to Isaiah 34:10, where it is said of Edom “its smoke shall go up for ever” (see Fekkes, Isaiah, 206–8). If so, the Hebrew text is probably in view, for the LXX lacks the Greek phrase “forever” corresponding to the Hebrew lĕʿōlām. In 20:10, it is said of the devil, the beast, and the false prophet that “they will be tormented day and night forever.” There is a close verbal parallel in 19:3, where the destruction of Babylon is in view: καὶ ὁ καπνὸς αὐτῆς ἀναβαίνει εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, “her smoke ascends forever,” Note that while the phrase εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, “forever,” occurs twelve times in Revelation (1:6, 18; 4:9, 10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5) and seven times elsewhere in the NT (Galatians 1:5; Ephesians 3:21; Philippians 4:20; 1 Timothy 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 13:21; 1 Peter 4:11), the anarthrous phrase εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων, “forever,” occurs only here in the New Testament ..."
David Aune, Word Biblical Commentary: Revelation 6-16 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017), 980.

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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Isaiah 34:10 and Revelation 14:11

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