Go to Related Reading
About this book

Revelation

About this book
Chapter 22

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life—water⁠ as clear as crystal—pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb,⁠ 2 flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations.⁠ 3 And there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him, 4 and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.⁠ 6 Then the angel said to me, “These words are reliable and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.” 7 (Look ! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.) 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them, I threw myself down to worship at the feet of the angel who was showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do this! I am a fellow servant⁠ with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!” 10 Then he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near. 11 The evildoer must continue to do evil, and the one who is morally filthy must continue to be filthy. The one who is righteous must continue to act righteously, and the one who is holy must continue to be holy.” 12 (Look ! I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to pay each one according to what he has done!⁠ 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end!)⁠ 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!”⁠ 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say: “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.⁠ 19 And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book. 20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

Texts in conversation

Compare Letter of Aristeas 311 and Revelation 22:18

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · New Testament

Share:

Summary

In the Letter of Aristeas, the Jewish leaders of Alexandria curse anyone who adds to, changes, or removes anything from the Greek text, following Deuteronomy. Revelation 22 ends by similarly threatening anyone who adds or removes anything from it.

Passages

Letter of Aristeas 311

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
After the books had been read, the priests and the elders of the translators and the Jewish community and the leaders of the people stood up and said, that since so excellent and sacred and accurate a translation had been made, it was only right that it should remain as it was and no alteration should be made in it. And when the whole company expressed their approval, they told them to pronounce a curse in accordance with their custom on anyone who should make any alteration either by adding anything or changing in any way whatever any of the words which had been written or making any omission. This was a very wise precaution to ensure that the book might be preserved for all the future time unchanged.
200–150 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Letter of Aristeas

Revelation 22:18

New Testament
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!” 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say: “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

“... In Deut 4:2 the formula does double duty as an injunction to protect the inviolability of a covenant treaty (the literary genre that frames Deuteronomy) and to protect a sacred text. [...] Another frequently cited parallel to Rev 22:18–19 is found in Ep. Arist. 311, where a sanction is pronounced by an assembly of Egyptian Jews in order to protect the LXX translation (M. Hadas, ed., Aristeas to Philocrates: Letter of Aristeas [New York: Harper, 1951] 221–23): [...] This legend was well known and was recounted also by Philo (Mos. 2.34), who reproduced the formula [...] Josephus (Ant. 12.109), who also recounts this formula, and Philo curiously omit any reference to the curse. ...”
David E. Aune, Word Biblical Commentary: Revelation 17-22 (Dallas: Word, 1998), PDF 392–393.

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

Your feedback

Letter of Aristeas 311 and Revelation 22:18

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library