Later text
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came from the throne in the temple, saying, “It is done!”
Intertextuality Pair
Revelation 16:17 → Exodus 9:22-34
Allusion
Earlier text
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.” So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation. Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree. The only place where it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.” Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the LORD our God.” (Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom; but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.) Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart—he and his officials.
Significance
The seventh bowl plague — hailstones "weighing almost a hundred pounds each" (16:21) accompanied by the declaration "It is done!" — echoes the seventh Egyptian plague of unprecedented hail in Exodus 9:22-34, described as the worst ever seen in Egypt. Both are climactic in their respective plague sequences. Exodus 9:24 describes it: "The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt." Revelation escalates the scale to hundred-pound stones with an earthquake "the likes of which had not occurred since men were upon the earth." The correspondence extends to the response: Pharaoh's temporary repentance (Exod 9:27-34) parallels mankind's refusal to repent despite the severity of judgment (Rev 16:21). The new-exodus pattern culminates in this final plague.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Longitudinal Theme + Analogy
Linked Mentions 2