Discovery BoxRevelation 1:7 
Context1:7 (Look! He is returning with the clouds, 1
and every eye will see him,
even 2 those who pierced him, 3
and all the tribes 4 on the earth will mourn because 5 of him.
This will certainly come to pass! 6 Amen.) 7
Revelation 7:4
Context7:4 Now 8 I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal, 9 one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from all 10 the tribes of the people of Israel: 11
Revelation 21:12
Context21:12 It has 12 a massive, high wall 13 with twelve gates, 14 with twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel 15 are written on the gates. 16
2 tn Here καί (kai) was translated as ascensive.
3 sn An allusion to Zech 12:10.
4 tn In this context, tribes (φυλαί, fulai) could also be translated as “nations” or “peoples” (L&N 11.56).
5 tn The conjunction ἐπί (epi) is most likely causal here. The people who crucified him are those of every tribe on the earth and they will mourn because he comes as judge.
6 tn Grk “Yes, Amen.” The expression “This will certainly come to pass” is an attempt to capture the force of the juxtaposition of the Greek ναί (nai) and the Hebrew ἀμήν (amhn). See L&N 69.1.
7 sn These lines are placed in parentheses because they form an aside to the main argument.
8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of new but related material.
9 tn Grk “who were sealed.”
10 tn Normally, “every,” but since 144,000 is the total number, “all” is clearer here.
11 tn Grk “the sons of Israel,” normally an idiom for the Israelites as an ethnic entity (L&N 11.58). However, many scholars understand the expression in this context to refer to Christians rather than ethnic Israelites.
12 tn Grk “jasper, having.” Here a new sentence was started in the translation.
13 tn Grk “a (city) wall great and high.”
14 tn On this term BDAG 897 s.v. πυλών 1 states, “gate, esp. of the large, impressive gateways at the entrance of temples and palaces…of the entrances of the heavenly Jerusalem…οἱ πυλῶνες αὐτῆς οὐ μὴ κλεισθῶσιν its entrances shall never be shut Rv 21:25; cp. vss. 12ab, 13abcd, 15, 21ab; 22:14.”
15 tn Grk “of the sons of Israel.” The translation “nation of Israel” is given in L&N 11.58.
16 tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the gates) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
