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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 19

1 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitutewho corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!” 3 Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. 4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our Godall you his servants, and all you who fear him, both the small and the great!” 6 Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful, reigns! 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.⁠ 8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” 11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse!⁠ The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war.⁠ 12 His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head.⁠ He has a name written that no one knows except himself.⁠ 13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God.⁠ 14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword so that with it he can strike the nations.⁠ He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful.⁠ 16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”⁠ 17 Then I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: “Come, gather around for the great banquet of God, 18 to eat your fill of the flesh of kings, the flesh of generals, the flesh of powerful people, the flesh of horses and those who ride them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, and small and great!” 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. 20 Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf—signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.⁠ 21 The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh.

Texts in conversation

Compare Revelation 19:13 and Neofiti Genesis 49:11

New Testament · Targum

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Summary

Revelation 19 presents Jesus as the Word of God wearing bloodstained clothing, drawing on Isaiah 63. This may also reflect an Aramaic tradition later preserved in Targum Neofiti on Genesis 49, where the messiah is described in blood-soaked clothes.

Passages

Revelation 19:13

New Testament
11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. 12 His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. 16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

Neofiti Genesis 49:11

Targum
10 Kings shall not cease from those of the house of Judah, nor scribes who teach the Law from his sons’ sons, until the time when King Messiah comes, to whom the kingship belongs, and all the kingdoms shall be subject to him. 11 How beautiful is King Messiah, who is to arise from those of the house of Judah! He girds his loins and goes out to battle against those who hate him, and he kills kings together with rulers. He reddens the mountains with the blood of their slain and whitens the hills with the fat of their warriors. His garments are rolled in blood; he is like one who treads grapes. 12 How beautiful are the eyes of King Messiah, more than clear wine, so that he will not look with them on the uncovering of nakedness, nor on the shedding of innocent blood. His teeth are purer than milk, so that he will not eat with them what is taken by violence or by robbery. The mountains will grow red from his vines, and the vats from wine, and the hills will grow white with plenty of grain and flocks of sheep. 13 Zebulun will live on the coasts of the Great Sea, and he will rule over the harbors of ships, and his border will reach as far as Sidon.
300–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Neofiti Genesis

References

"... Revelation 19,13a-15b is clearly dependent on Isaiah 63,1-6 where Yahweh, depicted as returning after having avenged himself on Edom, is represented as saying: 'I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me. I have trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, I have stained all my raiment" (Isaiah 63,3). The Apocalypse has transferred to Christ what the text of Isaiah predicated of Yahweh. This in itself causes no surprise whatever. It is quite possible, however, that the figure of the Warring Messiah which we find in Ap 19,13-15 is not the work of the New Testament Seer but was taken over by him from Jewish doctrine. In the Palestinian Targum to Genesis 49,11 we are presented with the same figure of the Messiah we find in Revelation 19,13 ff., i.e. a Warrior with clothes saturated with the blood of his enemies. Like Revelation 19,13.15 the Palestinian Targum borrows the terms of Isaiah 63 to portray the warlike Messiah ..."
Martin McNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch, AnBib (Rome: Biblical Institute, 1966), 231.

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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Revelation 19:13 and Neofiti Genesis 49:11

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