Revelation 2:20

2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that ¹  woman ²  Jezebel, ³  who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives ⁴  my servants ⁵  to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ⁶ 

Revelation 12:13

12:13 Now ⁷  when the dragon realized ⁸  that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

Revelation 17:3

17:3 So ⁹  he carried me away in the Spirit ¹⁰  to a wilderness, ¹¹  and there ¹²  I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 17:6

17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. ¹³  I ¹⁴  was greatly astounded ¹⁵  when I saw her.

Revelation 21:9

The New Jerusalem Descends

21:9 Then ¹⁶  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, ¹⁷  saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!”

¹ tn The Greek article has been translated here with demonstrative force.

² tc The ms evidence for γυναῖκα (gunaika, “woman”) alone includes {א C P 1611 2053 pc lat}. The ms evidence for the addition of “your” (σου, sou) includes A 1006 2351 Ï^K pc sy. With the pronoun, the text reads “your wife, Jezebel” instead of “that woman, Jezebel.” In Revelation, A C are the most important mss, along with א Ì⁴⁷ (which only reads in portions of chapters 9-17) 1006 1611 2053; in this instance, the external evidence slightly favors the shorter reading. But internally, it gains strength. The longer reading implies the idea that the angel in 2:18 is the bishop or leader of the church in Thyatira. The pronoun “your” (σου) is used four times in vv. 19-20 and may have been the cause for the scribe copying it again. Further, once the monarchical episcopate was in vogue (beginning in the 2nd century) scribes might have been prone to add “your” here.

³ sn Jezebel was the name of King Ahab’s idolatrous and wicked queen in 1 Kgs 16:31; 18:1-5; 19:1-3; 21:5-24. It is probable that the individual named here was analogous to her prototype in idolatry and immoral behavior, since those are the items singled out for mention.

⁴ tn Grk “teaches and deceives” (διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ, didaskei kai plana), a construction in which the first verb appears to specify the means by which the second is accomplished: “by her teaching, deceives…”

⁵ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

⁶ sn To commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Note the conclusions of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:29, which specifically prohibits Gentile Christians from engaging in these activities.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” because the clause it introduces is clearly resumptive.

⁸ tn Grk “saw.”

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation to witness the fate of the prostitute.

¹⁴ tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).

¹⁵ tn Or “desert.”

¹⁶ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

¹⁹ tn Or “of the witnesses to Jesus.” Here the genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) is taken as an objective genitive; Jesus is the object of their testimony.

²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²¹ tn Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).

²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

²⁶ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.” See also v. 15.