Discovery BoxRevelation 17:3 
Context17:3 So 1 he carried me away in the Spirit 2 to a wilderness, 3 and there 4 I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
Revelation 21:12
Context21:12 It has 5 a massive, high wall 6 with twelve gates, 7 with twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel 8 are written on the gates. 9
Revelation 21:27
Context21:27 but 10 nothing ritually unclean 11 will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable 12 or practices falsehood, 13 but only those whose names 14 are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 17:8
Context17:8 The beast you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up from the abyss 15 and then go to destruction. The 16 inhabitants of the earth – all those whose names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world – will be astounded when they see that 17 the beast was, and is not, but is to come.
1 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.
2 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).
3 tn Or “desert.”
4 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Grk “jasper, having.” Here a new sentence was started in the translation.
6 tn Grk “a (city) wall great and high.”
7 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.”
8 tn Grk “of the sons of Israel.” The translation “nation of Israel” is given in L&N 11.58.
9 tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the gates) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
11 tn Here BDAG 552 s.v. κοινός 2 states, “pert. to being of little value because of being common, common, ordinary, profane…b. specifically, of that which is ceremonially impure: Rv 21:27.”
12 tn Or “what is abhorrent”; Grk “who practices abominations.”
13 tn Grk “practicing abomination or falsehood.” Because of the way βδέλυγμα (bdelugma) has been translated (“does what is detestable”) it was necessary to repeat the idea from the participle ποιῶν (poiwn, “practices”) before the term “falsehood.” On this term, BDAG 1097 s.v. ψεῦδος states, “ποιεῖν ψεῦδος practice (the things that go with) falsehood Rv 21:27; 22:15.” Cf. Rev 3:9.
14 tn Grk “those who are written”; the word “names” is implied.
15 tn On this term BDAG 2 s.v. ἄβυσσος 2 states, “netherworld, abyss, esp. the abode of the dead Ro 10:7 (Ps 106:26) and of demons Lk 8:31; dungeon where the devil is kept Rv 20:3; abode of the θηρίον, the Antichrist 11:7; 17:8; of ᾿Αβαδδών (q.v.), the angel of the underworld 9:11…φρέαρ τῆς ἀ. 9:1f; capable of being sealed 9:1; 20:1, 3.”
16 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
17 tn Some translations take the ὅτι (Joti) here as causal: “because he was, and is not, but is to come” (so NIV, NRSV), but it is much more likely that the subject of the ὅτι clause has been assimilated into the main clause: “when they see the beast, that he was…” = “when they see that the beast was” (so BDAG 732 s.v. ὅτι 1.f, where Rev 17:8 is listed).
