Apocalipse 11

BLIVRE · Chapter 11/22

1E foi-me dada uma cana semelhante a uma vara [de medir] ; e o anjo ficou [de pé] , dizendo: “Levanta-te, e mede o templo de Deus, e o altar, e os que nele adoram.

2Mas deixa fora ao pátio, que [está] fora do templo, e não o meças; porque ele foi dado às nações; e pisarão a santa cidade por quarenta e dois meses.

3E eu darei [autoridade] às minhas duas testemunhas, e elas profetizarão por mil duzentos e sessenta dias, vestidas de sacos.”

4Estas são as duas oliveiras, e os dois castiçais, que estão diante do Deus da terra.

5E se alguém quiser lhes maltratar, fogo sai da sua boca, e devora aos inimigos delas; e se alguém quiser lhes maltratar, é necessário que assim seja morto.

6Estas têm autoridade para fechar o céu, para que não chova nos dias da sua profecia; e têm poder sobre as águas para as transformar em sangue, e para ferir a terra com toda praga, tantas vezes quantas quiserem.

7E quando elas terminarem seu testemunho, a besta, que sobe do abismo, fará guerra contra elas, e as vencerá, e as matará.

8E os cadáveres delas [jazerão] na praça da grande cidade, que espiritualmente se chama Sodoma e Egito, onde nosso Senhor também foi crucificado.

9E os dos povos, tribos, línguas e nações verão os cadáveres delas por três dias e meio, e não permitirão que os cadáveres delas sejam postos em sepulcros.

10E os que habitam sobre a terra se alegrarão sobre elas, e ficarão contentes, e enviarão presentes uns aos outros, porque estes dois profetas atormentarão aos que habitam sobre a terra.

11E depois [daqueles] três dias e meio, entrou nelas o espírito de vida de Deus, e se puseram sobre seus pés, e caiu grande temor sobre os que as viram.

12E elas ouviram uma grande voz do céu lhes dizendo: “Subi aqui!” E elas subiram ao céu em uma nuvem; e seus inimigos as viram.

13E naquela [mesma] hora houve um grande terremoto, e a décima [parte] da cidade caiu, e no terremoto foram mortos sete mil nomes humanos; e os restantes ficaram muito atemorizados, e deram glória ao Deus do céu.

14O segundo ai [já] passou; eis que o terceiro ai logo vem.

15E o sétimo anjo tocou a trombeta, e houve grandes vozes no céu, dizendo: “Os reinos do mundo se tornaram do nosso Senhor, e do seu Cristo, e ele reinará para todo o sempre.”

16E os vinte e quatro anciãos, que estão sentados diante de Deus em seus tronos, prostraram-se sobre seus rostos, e adoraram a Deus,

17dizendo: “Graças te damos, Senhor Deus, o Todo-Poderoso, o que é, e que era, e que virá; porque tomaste o teu grande poder, e tens reinado;

18E as nações se iraram, porém veio a tua ira, e o tempo dos mortos, para serem julgados, e para tu dares a recompensa aos teus servos, os profetas, e aos santos, e aos que temem o teu nome, a pequenos e a grandes; e para destruir os que destroem a terra.”

19E o templo de Deus se abriu no céu, e a arca de seu pacto foi vista no seu templo; e houve relâmpagos, vozes, trovões, terremotos, e grande queda de granizo.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

John measures the temple of God and describes two prophetic witnesses who preach dressed in sackcloth for 1,260 days, are killed by the beast, but are then raised to life and taken up to heaven in full view of everyone. The seventh trumpet finally sounds, announcing that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of God and of his Christ.

Explanation

The 'two witnesses,' with power to shut up the sky like Elijah and turn water into blood like Moses, likely represent the faithful prophetic witness of the church amid persecution, more than two specific literal historical figures, though this is debated among interpreters. The number 1,260 days (equivalent to three and a half years, or 'a time, times, and half a time') appears repeatedly in this book and in Daniel, symbolically representing a period of intense persecution that is nonetheless limited and controlled by God. The chapter's climax, with the seventh trumpet announcing that 'the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,' is one of the most celebrated verses in the book, inspiring Handel's famous 'Hallelujah' chorus. Today's practical application is that faithful witness, even at the cost of persecution and apparent defeat, will in the end be publicly vindicated by God.

Fun facts

  • Verse 11:15, 'the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,' is the direct textual basis for the famous 'Hallelujah' chorus from George Frideric Handel's 'Messiah,' one of the most performed choral works in the history of classical music.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Apocalipse 11:1Measuring with a rod was, since the book of Ezekiel, a way of marking something as belonging to God and protected, unlike the outer court, which is left exposed without that protection.
  2. Apocalipse 11:2Excluding the outer court of the temple and handing it over to the nations for “forty and two months” repeats the same period of three and a half years (half of seven) used elsewhere in the book to mark a limited time of suffering.
  3. Apocalipse 11:3A thousand two hundred and threescore days equal three and a half years, half of seven, a ‘broken’ number the book uses several times to mark a limited period of hardship, not an exact calendar count.
  4. Apocalipse 11:4This image comes from the prophet Zechariah, who originally spoke of the king and the priest of his own time. Here it is reused to describe two witnesses with powers similar to those of Moses, who turned water into blood, and Elijah, who stopped the rain - the two great prophetic figures of the Old Testament.
  5. Apocalipse 11:5The image of fire coming out of the mouth to destroy enemies echoes the prophet Elijah, who brought fire down from heaven upon his adversaries, one of several parallels linking these two witnesses to Old Testament prophetic figures.
  6. Apocalipse 11:6The power to shut up the sky so it does not rain directly recalls Elijah, who brought about a prolonged drought; the power to turn waters into blood and bring plagues recalls Moses in Egypt - the two witnesses seem to combine features of Israel's two greatest prophetic figures.
  7. Apocalipse 11:7This introduces for the first time “the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit,” a character who will only be detailed more fully in chapter 13; here it appears defeating the two witnesses after their mission is complete.
  8. Apocalipse 11:8The text warns that it is using nicknames, not real place names: Sodom, from Genesis, a symbol of wickedness, and Egypt, from Exodus, a symbol of oppression, describe a city hostile to the people of God, without pointing to a specific city from John's own time.
  9. Apocalipse 11:9Leaving bodies unburied was considered a great dishonor in the ancient world; the scene describes people from everywhere celebrating this humiliation for three and a half days, the same symbolic number used before.
  10. Apocalipse 11:10The reaction of joy and exchanging gifts is a reversal of the mourning expected in the face of a death, showing just how much the uncomfortable message of these two witnesses had irritated those who lived on the earth.
  11. Apocalipse 11:11This resurrection scene, with the same “spirit of life” reviving the bodies, directly echoes the vision of the dry bones of the prophet Ezekiel, which also suddenly come to life.
  12. Apocalipse 11:12The invitation “Come up hither” and the ascent in a cloud, in full view of their own enemies, reinforces the complete reversal of the scene: from humiliated to publicly vindicated.
  13. Apocalipse 11:13An immediate earthquake causes partial destruction in the city and unexpectedly leads the survivors to give glory to God, a rare moment in the book where fear leads to divine recognition instead of resistance.
  14. Apocalipse 11:14This marks the end of the second “woe” in the sequence begun in chapter 9, warning that the third and final one is near.
  15. Apocalipse 11:15This declaration echoes the language of the book of Daniel about a kingdom of God that would replace all human empires, one of the central points of the whole narrative of Revelation.
  16. Apocalipse 11:16The twenty-four elders, already introduced in chapters 4 and 5, repeat the same gesture of falling down and worshiping before God.
  17. Apocalipse 11:17The song of thanksgiving marks a subtle shift from the greeting in chapter 1: there God was “which is, and which was, and which is to come”; here, since He has already taken up power and begun to reign, the phrase “which is to come” drops away.
  18. Apocalipse 11:18This sums up several themes of the book in a single sentence: the wrath of the nations, God's wrath in response, the judgment of the dead, the reward of the faithful, and the destruction of those who destroy the earth.
  19. Apocalipse 11:19Jewish tradition held that the Ark of the Covenant had been hidden away before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Showing it again, now in the heavenly temple, is a way of saying that God's covenant with His people still stands.

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