Revelation 4:11

4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

since you created all things,

and because of your will they existed and were created!” ¹ 

Revelation 13:8

13:8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, ²  everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world ³  in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed. ⁴ 

Revelation 16:18

16:18 Then ⁵  there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ⁶  and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity ⁷  has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.

Revelation 16:21

16:21 And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds ⁸  each, fell from heaven ⁹  on people, ¹⁰  but they ¹¹  blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it ¹²  was so horrendous. ¹³ 

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¹ tc The past tense of “they existed” (ἦσαν, hsan) and the order of the expression “they existed and were created” seems backwards both logically and chronologically. The text as it stands is the more difficult reading and seems to have given rise to codex A omitting the final “they were created,” 2329 replacing “they existed” (ἦσαν) with “have come into being” (ἐγένοντο, egeneto), and 046 adding οὐκ (ouk, “not”) before ἦσαν (“they did not exist, [but were created]”). Several mss (1854 2050 Ï^A sa) also attempt to alleviate the problem by replacing ἦσαν with “they are” (εἰσιν, eisin).

² tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.

⁴ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

⁶ tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

⁷ tn The singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used generically here to refer to the human race.

⁸ tn Here BDAG 988 s.v. ταλαντιαῖος states, “weighing a talent…χάλαζα μεγάλη ὡς ταλαντιαία a severe hailstorm with hailstones weighing a talent (the talent=125 librae, or Roman pounds of c. 343 gr. or 12 ounces each) (weighing about a hundred pounds NRSV) Rv 16:21.” This means each hailstone would weigh just under 100 pounds or 40 kilograms.

⁹ tn Or “the sky.” Due to the apocalyptic nature of this book, it is probably best to leave the translation as “from heaven,” since God is ultimately the source of the judgment.

¹⁰ tn Grk “on men,” but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a generic sense to refer to people in general (the hailstones did not single out adult males, but would have also fallen on women and children).

¹¹ tn Grk “the men”; for stylistic reasons the pronoun “they” is used here.

¹² tn Grk “the plague of it.”

¹³ tn Grk “since the plague of it was exceedingly great.”