The New Testament

The New TestamentRevelation

Revelation 14

1I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand, with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. 2I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of great thunder. The sound I heard was like harpists playing their harps. 3They sing what sounds like a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who had been bought from the earth. 4These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were bought from humanity as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5and no lie was found in their mouths; they are without blemish.

6I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with eternal good news to proclaim to those settled on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7He said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship the one who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.”

8Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who made all the nations drink from the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

9Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on the forehead or the hand, 10that person will also drink from the wine of God's fury, prepared undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and will be tormented with fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the Lamb. 11The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and its image, and anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12Here is the endurance of the holy ones, those who keep God's commandments and their faith in Jesus.

13I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their toils, for their deeds follow them.”

14I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Send out your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the earth's harvest is ripe.” 16The one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, also holding a sharp sickle. 18Another angel came from the altar, the one who has authority over fire. He called with a loud voice to the one with the sharp sickle, saying, “Send out your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19The angel swung his sickle into the earth, gathered the earth's vine, and threw it into the great winepress of God's fury. 20The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of one thousand six hundred stadia.

Translation notes 4

14:1–5 — Names and virgins. The divine names answer the beast's mark. The description presents male virgins and must not be turned silently into a generic statement of sincerity. It may portray literal celibacy, sexual fidelity, or spiritual purity in a symbolic army; the translation preserves the gendered image without deciding that women or married people are excluded from salvation. Firstfruits are the first portion of a harvest dedicated to God.

14:8–11 — Wine and judgment. “Passion” and “fury” translate the same Greek word in different contexts; Babylon's intoxicating passion and God's wrath are linked by the wine imagery. “Prepared undiluted” preserves the paradox of wine that is mixed or prepared yet not diluted. Fire, sulfur, endless smoke, and lack of rest remain as stated, without a supplied explanation of their final mechanism.

14:12–13 — Faith and rest. “Faith in Jesus” is the provisional reading; “Jesus' faithfulness” or “faithfulness to Jesus” are significant alternatives. The faithful dead's rest contrasts with the preceding lack of rest. “From now on” is attached to dying in the Lord, though other punctuation is possible.

14:14–20 — Two harvests. The grain harvest's interpretation is disputed; the grape harvest explicitly depicts wrath. The text does not identify the city here. Sixteen hundred stadia is roughly 184 miles; the number and the immense blood image are retained rather than converted into an explanation of a future battle.