Discovery BoxRevelation 3:14 
Context3:14 “To 1 the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following: 2
“This is the solemn pronouncement of 3 the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator 4 of God’s creation:
Revelation 15:1
Context15:1 Then 5 I saw another great and astounding sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven final plagues 6 (they are final because in them God’s anger is completed).
Revelation 15:8--16:1
Context15:8 and the temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and from his power. Thus 7 no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues from the seven angels were completed.
16:1 Then 8 I heard a loud voice from the temple declaring to the seven angels: “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.” 9
Revelation 16:19
Context16:19 The 10 great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations 11 collapsed. 12 So 13 Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup 14 filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath. 15
1 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated due to differences between Greek and English style.
2 tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.
3 tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” See the note on the phrase “this is the solemn pronouncement of” in 2:1.
sn The expression This is the solemn pronouncement of reflects an OT idiom. See the note on this phrase in 2:1.
4 tn Or “the beginning of God’s creation”; or “the ruler of God’s creation.” From a linguistic standpoint all three meanings for ἀρχή (arch) are possible. The term is well attested in both LXX (Gen 40:13, 21; 41:13) and intertestamental Jewish literature (2 Macc 4:10, 50) as meaning “ruler, authority” (BDAG 138 s.v. 6). Some have connected this passage to Paul’s statements in Col 1:15, 18 which describe Christ as ἀρχή and πρωτότοκος (prwtotoko"; e.g., see R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 124) but the term ἀρχή has been understood as either “beginning” or “ruler” in that passage as well. The most compelling connection is to be found in the prologue to John’s Gospel (1:2-4) where the λόγος (logos) is said to be “in the beginning (ἀρχή) with God,” a temporal reference connected with creation, and then v. 3 states that “all things were made through him.” The connection with the original creation suggests the meaning “originator” for ἀρχή here. BDAG 138 s.v. 3 gives the meaning “the first cause” for the word in Rev 3:14, a term that is too philosophical for the general reader, so the translation “originator” was used instead. BDAG also notes, “but the mng. beginning = ‘first created’ is linguistically probable (s. above 1b and Job 40:19; also CBurney, Christ as the ᾿Αρχή of Creation: JTS 27, 1926, 160-77).” Such a meaning is unlikely here, however, since the connections described above are much more probable.
5 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
6 tn Grk “seven plagues – the last ones.”
7 tn Grk “power, and no one.” A new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the temple being filled with smoke.
8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
9 tn Or “anger.” Here τοῦ θυμοῦ (tou qumou) has been translated as a genitive of content.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
11 tn Or “of the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
12 tn Grk “fell.”
13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Babylon’s misdeeds (see Rev 14:8).
14 tn Grk “the cup of the wine of the anger of the wrath of him.” The concatenation of four genitives has been rendered somewhat differently by various translations (see the note on the word “wrath”).
15 tn Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumo") and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9). Thus in Rev 14:8 (to which the present passage alludes) and 18:3 there is irony: The wine of immoral behavior with which Babylon makes the nations drunk becomes the wine of God’s wrath for her.
