Intertextuality Pair

Revelation 16:2 → Exodus 9:9-11

Allusion

Later text

Revelation 16:2BSB

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

Earlier text

Exodus 9:9-11BSB

It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on man and beast throughout the land.” So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast. The magicians could not stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and on all the Egyptians.
Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square13:39

Significance

The first bowl plague producing "loathsome, malignant sores" (helkos kakon kai ponēron) directly corresponds to the sixth Egyptian plague of boils (shehin) in Exodus 9:9-11. The LXX of Exodus 9:9 uses helkos, the same term John employs. Just as the Egyptian plague targeted those under Pharaoh's dominion while sparing Israel, the bowl plague strikes specifically "those who had the mark of the beast." This correspondence is part of Revelation's sustained new-exodus pattern: the seven bowl plagues systematically recapitulate the ten Egyptian plagues in escalated form. Where the Egyptian plague was localized and temporary, the bowl plague is universal and eschatological. The deliberate parallel reinforces the theological point that the God who judged Egypt's gods will judge the beast's counterfeit worship system.

Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Longitudinal Theme + Analogy

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