What the book is
Revelation is the last book of the Bible and the hardest to read. It is at once a letter to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, a prophecy, and an apocalypse, a “revealing” in visions and symbols: a throne in heaven, a Lamb that was slain, seals, trumpets and bowls, a dragon and two beasts, the fall of Babylon, a rider on a white horse, and the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. Its pictures draw on the Old Testament on almost every line, above all Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Exodus. It opens with a blessing on those who read it:
How blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and those who hear them and keep what is written here! The time is near.
And it ends with a promise and a prayer: “Yes, I am coming soon!” “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Who wrote it, and when
The writer calls himself John, a servant of Jesus who was on the island of Patmos “because of God’s word and the testimony of Jesus” (1:9), most likely in exile. Early tradition identified him as John the apostle. Already in the third century, Dionysius of Alexandria noted that its Greek and style are very different from the Gospel of John, and he thought it was written by another John; many scholars today agree. Most date it to the reign of the emperor Domitian, around AD 95, as Irenaeus did; some date it to the late 60s, after Nero’s persecution.
How the book is laid out
- The vision of Christ (1): the risen one among seven lampstands.
- Letters to seven churches (2–3): Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, each praised, warned or called to repent.
- The throne and the Lamb (4–5): worship in heaven, and the Lamb who alone is worthy to open the sealed scroll.
- Seals, trumpets and bowls (6–16): three series of seven judgments, broken by visions of God’s people sealed and kept.
- The woman, the dragon and the beasts (12–14): the conflict behind the persecution of the church.
- The fall of Babylon (17–19): the great city, and the rider called Faithful and True.
- The thousand years and the last judgment (20).
- The new heavens and new earth (21–22): God dwelling with his people, the river of life, and no more death or tears.
How Open Word Bible translates Revelation
Symbols kept as symbols. The draft translates the visions as John describes them, without turning them into explanations, and the decisions say what each symbol most likely stands for. The glory of God and the Lamb runs through the book, and the draft keeps the word the same throughout.
Freed or washed? (1:5). Christ “by his blood released us from our sins”; many later manuscripts read “washed us”, one letter different in Greek. The draft follows its text and footnotes the other.
The number of the beast (13:18). “Its number is 666.” Some early manuscripts read 616. The decision notes that the number may spell a name, and the footnote gives the main readings, among them the emperor Nero’s name spelled in Hebrew letters, which adds up to 666 in one spelling and 616 in another.
The thousand years (20). How the thousand years are to be understood has divided Christians for centuries. The draft translates the text without deciding, and the footnote sets out the three main views: a future reign of Christ on earth after his return, the present age between his two comings, or a golden age of the gospel’s success before he returns.
Wash their robes (22:14). “How blessed are those who wash their robes!” Many later manuscripts read “who do his commandments”, the wording of older English Bibles; the footnote gives it. In 22:19, the draft reads “the tree of life”, where the King James Version has “the book of life”, a reading found in some printed editions but with almost no support in Greek manuscripts.