[B-Greek] Revelation 16:19 - the great city

Otto Erlend Nordgreen o.e.nordgreen at ilos.uio.no
Wed Dec 28 18:01:48 EST 2005


Dear Marko Jauhiainen,

You wrote:

>Just a clarification: Ruiz argues that there is a transition of
>reference with regard to the "great city" in Revelation (i.e., it
>sometimes refers to Rome, and sometimes to Jerusalem) and that in 16:19
>it indeed refers to Rome.

Many thanks for your input.

This is what Ruiz writes regarding "the great city" (in Rev 16:19):

"Contrary to the opinion of the majority of commentators, the data 
presented above indicate that [hH POLIS hH MEGALH] in 16,19 refers to 
Jerusalem. Further, [hAI POLEIS TWN EQNWN] (
) are contrated with "the 
Great City," which is _Jerusalem_ in this verse. For [BABULWN hH MEGALH], 
the contemporary historical identification as Rome remains beyond dispute" 
(p. 282, cf. "Table 12" on p. 284)

Thus, it would seem to me that Ruiz does in fact identify "the great city" 
in Rev 16:19a with Jerusalem, not Rome.


You also wrote:

>I, on the other hand, place a bit more weight on the possibility that
>"the great city" and "Babylon the Great" are different entities.
>However, the issue cannot be settled on the basis of the structure of
>the Greek sentence alone, IMHO.

I am sure you have a point. (I also would like to say that your study is 
excellent; I am currently reviewing it and I am very much impressed!)


Best regards

Otto E. Nordgreen



----------------------------------------------------
Otto Erlend Nordgreen

E-mail: otton at ilos.uio.no
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