Old Testament Allusions in Revelation
Revelation 13:15
Daniel 3: 5 “…when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, double-flute, and all the other musical instruments, you must fall down and worship the golden statue which King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be instantly cast into a white-hot furnace.”
Revelation 14:1
Ezekiel 9: 4 …and the LORD said to him: Pass through the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark an X on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the abominations practiced within it.
Revelation 14:2
Ezekiel 1: 24 Then I heard the sound of their wings, like the roaring of mighty waters, like the voice of the Almighty.
Ezekiel 43: 2 …and there was the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east! His voice was like the roar of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.
Revelation 14:3
Texts about singing a new song to the Lord: Psalms 33:3; 40:3; 96:1 98:1 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10.
Revelation 14:5
Psalms 32: 2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no deceit.
Isaiah 53: 9 He was given a grave among the wicked, a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong, nor was deceit found in his mouth.
Zephaniah 3: 13 They shall do no wrong and speak no lies; nor shall there be found in their mouths a deceitful tongue…
Revelation 14:7
Exodus 20: 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
Psalms 146: 6 The maker of heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever…
Revelation 14:8
Isaiah 21: 9 He calls out and says, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods are smashed to the ground!”
Jeremiah 51: 7 Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the LORD making the whole earth drunk; the nations drank its wine, thus they have gone mad. 8 Babylon suddenly falls and is broken: wail over her! Bring balm for her wounds, in case she can be healed.
Revelation 14:10
Genesis 19: 24 …and the LORD rained down sulfur upon Sodom and Gomorrah, fire from the LORD out of heaven.
Psalms 11: 6 [The LORD] rains upon the wicked fiery coals and brimstone, a scorching wind their allotted cup.
Psalms 75: 9 Yes, a cup is in the LORD’s hand, foaming wine, fully spiced. When God pours it out, they will drain it even to the dregs; all the wicked of the earth will drink.
Isaiah 51: 17 Wake up, wake up! Arise, Jerusalem, you who drank at the LORD’s hand the cup of his wrath; who drained to the dregs the bowl of staggering!
Isaiah 51: 22 Thus says the LORD, your Master, your God, who defends his people: See, I am taking from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall no longer drink.
Jeremiah 25: 15 For thus said the LORD, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and have all the nations to whom I will send you drink it.
Ezekiel 38: 22 I will execute judgment on him: disease and bloodshed; flooding rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone, I will rain down on him, on his troops and on the many nations with him.
Revelation 14:11
Isaiah 34: 10 Night and day it shall not be quenched, its smoke shall rise forever.
Revelation 14:14
Daniel 7: 13 As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of heaven, One like a son of man.
Revelation 14:15 & 14:18
Joel 4: 13 Wield the sickle, for the harvest is ripe…
Revelation 14:20
Isaiah 63: 3 “The wine press I have trodden alone, and from the peoples no one was with me. I trod them in my anger, and trampled them down in my wrath; their blood spurted on my garments, all my apparel I stained….”
Lamentations 1: 15 All my valiant warriors my Lord has cast away; he proclaimed a feast against me to crush my young men; my Lord has trodden in the wine press virgin daughter Judah.
Revelation 15: 1
Leviticus 26: 21 If then you continue hostile, unwilling to obey me, I will multiply my blows sevenfold, as your sins deserve.
Revelation 15:3
Exodus 15: 1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea… 11 Who is like you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like you, magnificent among the holy ones? Awe-inspiring in deeds of renown, worker of wonders.
Revelation 15:4
Psalms 89: 9 LORD, God of hosts, who is like you? Mighty LORD, your faithfulness surrounds you.
Jeremiah 10: 6 No one is like you, LORD, you are great, great and mighty is your name. 7 Who would not fear you, King of the nations, for it is your due! Among all the wisest of the nations, and in all their domains, there is none like you.
Malachi 1: 11 From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations; incense offerings are made to my name everywhere, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
Revelation 15:5
Exodus 38: 21The following is an account of the various amounts used on the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant, drawn up at the command of Moses by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.
Revelation 15:6
Leviticus 26: 21 If then you continue hostile, unwilling to obey me, I will multiply my blows sevenfold, as your sins deserve.
Revelation 15:8
Exodus 40: 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
1 Kings 8: 10 When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD 11 so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
Isaiah 6: 4 At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.
Ezekiel 44: 4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the facade of the temple. I looked—and the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house! I fell on my face.
Revelation 16:1
Psalms 69: 25 Pour out your wrath upon them; let the fury of your anger overtake them.
Isaiah 66: 6 A voice roaring from the city, a voice from the temple; the voice of the LORD rendering recompense to his enemies!
Jeremiah 10: 25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, on the tribes that do not call your name; for they have utterly devoured Jacob, and laid waste his home.
Ezekiel 22: 31 Therefore I have poured out my fury upon them; with my fiery wrath I have consumed them, bringing down their ways upon their heads—oracle of the Lord GOD.
Zephaniah 3: 8 Therefore, wait for me—oracle of the LORD—until the day when I arise as accuser; for it is my decision to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out upon them my wrath, all my blazing anger; for in the fire of my passion all the earth will be consumed.
Revelation 16:2
Exodus 9: 10 So they took the soot from a kiln and appeared before Pharaoh. When Moses scattered it toward the sky, it caused festering boils on human being and beast alike.
Deuteronomy 28: 35 The LORD will strike you with malignant boils of which you cannot be cured, on your knees and legs, and from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head.
Revelation 16:3-4
Exodus 7: 17 Thus says the LORD: This is how you will know that I am the LORD. With the staff here in my hand, I will strike the water in the Nile and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the Nile itself will stink so that the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile. 19 The LORD then spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—its streams, its canals, its ponds, and all its supplies of water—that they may become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the wooden pails and stone jars. 20 This, then, is what Moses and Aaron did, exactly as the LORD had commanded. Aaron raised his staff and struck the waters in the Nile in full view of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water in the Nile was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile itself stank so that the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt.
Psalms 78: 44 God turned their rivers to blood; their streams they could not drink.
Revelation 16:5
Deuteronomy 32: 4 The Rock—how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways! A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he!
Psalms 119: 137 You are righteous, LORD, and just are your judgments.
Psalms 145: 17 The LORD is just in all his ways, merciful in all his works.
Revelation 16:6
Isaiah 49: 26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as though with new wine. All flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your savior, your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Revelation16:10
Exodus 10: 21 Then the LORD said to Moses: Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that over the land of Egypt there may be such darkness that one can feel it.
Revelation 16:12
Isaiah 11: 15 The LORD shall dry up the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and wave his hand over the Euphrates with his fierce wind, and divide it into seven streamlets, so that it can be crossed in sandals.
Isaiah 44: 27 I say to the deep, Be dry! I will dry up your rivers.
Jeremiah 50: 38 A drought upon the waters, and they dry up! For it is a land of idols, soon made frantic by phantoms.
Jeremiah 51: 36 But now, thus says the LORD: I will certainly defend your cause, I will certainly avenge you; I will dry up her sea, and drain her fountain.
Revelation 16:16
Judges 5: 19 The kings came and fought; then they fought, those kings of Canaan, at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; no spoil of silver did they take.
2 Kings 9: 27 Seeing what was happening, Ahaziah, king of Judah, fled toward Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Him too!” They struck him as he rode through the pass of Gur near Ibleam, but he continued his flight as far as Megiddo and died there.
2 Kings 23: 29 In his time Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went up toward the Euphrates River against the king of Assyria. King Josiah set out to meet him, but was slain at Megiddo at the first encounter.
Zechariah 12: 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Revelation 16:17
Isaiah 66: 6 A voice roaring from the city, a voice from the temple; the voice of the LORD rendering recompense to his enemies!
Revelation 16:18
Exodus 19: 16 On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast of the shofar, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
Revelation 16:19
Psalms 75: 9 Yes, a cup is in the LORD’s hand, foaming wine, fully spiced. When God pours it out, they will drain it even to the dregs; all the wicked of the earth will drink.
Jeremiah 25: 15 For thus said the LORD, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and have all the nations to whom I will send you drink it.
Revelation 16:21
Exodus 9: 24 There was hail and lightning flashing here and there through the hail, and the hail was so fierce that nothing like it had been seen in Egypt since it became a nation.
Revelation 17:1-2
Isaiah 23: 17 At the end of the seventy years the LORD shall visit Tyre. She shall return to her hire and serve as prostitute with all the world’s kingdoms on the face of the earth.
Revelation 17:4
Jeremiah 51: 7 Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the LORD making the whole earth drunk; the nations drank its wine, thus they have gone mad.
Ezekiel 28: 13 …precious stones of every kind were your covering: Carnelian, topaz, and beryl, chrysolite, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, garnet, and emerald.
Revelation 17:8
Texts about being blotted out of the book of life: Exodus 32: 32-33; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1 (See Rev 3:5 above.)
Revelation 17:12
Daniel 7: 24 The ten horns shall be ten kings rising out of that kingdom…
Revelation 17:14
Deuteronomy 10: 17 For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome…
Daniel 2: 47 To Daniel the king said, “Truly your God is the God of gods and Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries; that is why you were able to reveal this mystery.”
Revelation 18:2
Isaiah 13: 21 But desert demons shall rest there and owls shall fill the houses; there ostriches shall dwell, and satyrs shall dance.
Isaiah 21: 9 Here he comes—a single chariot, a pair of horses—he calls out and says, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon!”
Isaiah 34: 11 But the desert owl and hoot owl shall possess it, the screech owl and raven shall dwell in it.
Revelation 18:4
Isaiah 51: 20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea!
Isaiah 52: 11 Depart, depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean! Out from there! Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
Jeremiah 50: 8 Flee from the midst of Babylon, leave the land of the Chaldeans, be like rams at the head of the flock.
Jeremiah 51: 6 Flee from Babylon; each of you save your own life, do not perish because of her guilt; this is a time of retribution from the LORD… 45 Leave her, my people; each of you save your own life from the burning wrath of the LORD.
Revelation 18: 7-8
Isaiah 47: 7 You said, “I shall remain always, a sovereign mistress forever!” You did not take these things to heart, but disregarded their outcome. 8 Now hear this, voluptuous one, enthroned securely, saying in your heart, “I, and no one else! I shall never be a widow, bereft of my children”—9 Both these things shall come to you suddenly, in a single day: complete bereavement and widowhood shall come upon you despite your many sorceries and the full power of your spells…