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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 Psalms of Solomon 17:24 and Revelation 19:14

Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry · New Testament

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Summary

The Psalms of Solomon and Revelation describe a messiah descended from David who defeats his enemies with words. In the Psalms, this king destroys rebellious nations by his command, and in Revelation, Jesus is a warrior with a sword in his mouth.

Passages

Psalms of Solomon 17:24

Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
20 From their leaders to the least (of them) all were sinful; The king was a lawbreaker, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful. 21 Look, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, at the time You see fit, God, so that he may reign over Your servant Israel. 22 And strengthen him so that he may shatter unrighteous rulers, and so that he may cleanse Jerusalem of nations that trample (her) down to destruction. 23 Wisely, righteously he shall drive out sinners from (the) inheritance; He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potter's jar. 24 With a rod of iron he shall shatter all their possessions; He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth; 25 At his rebuke nations shall flee from him, And he shall rebuke sinners for the thoughts of their heart.
65–30 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Psalms of Solomon

Revelation 19:14

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

References

"... The author of Psalms of Solomon 17 has a clear set of expectations for what the “Anointed One,” the Messiah (a term used in Psalms of Solomon 17:32; also see 18:5, 7), will do. He will purge the Holy Land of both the sinful Judeans and the Gentiles, who are “lawless” in the sense that they live without the Torah (Psalms of Solomon 17:22–24, 30b, 36b). This is a violent expectation, even if the weapons are unconventional: “He will destroy the lawless nations by the word of his mouth” (Psalms of Solomon 17:24; compare Revelation 19:11–15). This Son of David will gather the righteous Judeans scattered throughout the nations (Psalms of Solomon 17:26, 31; see also 11:1–3) and will rule them with perfect justice, judging the twelve tribes and keeping them centered in the fear of the Lord through his rod of discipline (Psalms of Solomon 17:26–27; see also 18:7). He himself will be “pure from sin, so that he may rule a great people” (Psalms of Solomon 17:36) ..."
David A. DeSilva, The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 143.

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Psalms of Solomon 17:24 and Revelation 19:14

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