Revelation 14:18

14:18-20 The ripe . . . grapes (see Amos 8:2) that are trampled in the winepress emphasize God’s power to judge (see Rev 19:15; Joel 3:13). • Winepresses were built outside cities and towns; here, the city is Jerusalem. The bloody river of death stretched about 180 miles. God’s enemies stand no chance when the Son of Man comes in judgment. The carnage here is closely linked with the final battle in Rev 19:17-21; God is just and fair in giving people exactly what they deserve (see 16:5-7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev 14:18. Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ὁ[169] ἜΧΩΝ ἘΞΟΥΣΊΣΝ ἘΠῚ ΤΟῦ ΠΥΡῸς, ἘΦΩΝΉΣΕ, Κ.Τ.Λ.) See the general remark respecting the Latin Translator in App. Crit. Ed. ii, on this passage. ἘΠῚ ΤΟῦ ΠΥΡῸς is said in the singular number; but it appears to be the singular for the plural, since the word ΠῦΡ, here used, has no plural. Comp. ΤῶΝ ὙΔΆΤΩΝ, ch. Rev 16:5.—ΤΟῪς ΒΌΤΡΥΑς—ΑἸ ΣΤΑΦΥΛΑῚ) Ὁ ΒΌΤΡΥς ΚΑῚ Ἡ ΣΤΑΦΥΛῊ are often synonymous, but they sometimes differ, in the LXX.: Num 13:23, אשכול ענבים, LXX., ΒΌΤΡΥΝ ΣΤΑΦΥΛῆς; Gen 40:10, ΠΈΠΕΙΡΟΙ ΟἹ ΒΌΤΡΥΕς ΣΤΑΦΥΛῆς. Therefore ΒΌΤΡΥς, the whole, a cluster: σταφυλαὶ, the parts, a grape.—Τῆς ἈΜΠΈΛΟΥ, of the vine) The plural is not wanting, נפנים, LXX., αἱ ἄμπελοι; and yet in this place it is singular: all the wicked are like one vine; they all cohere in one mass.

[169] So AC; but Rec. Text omits ὁ with B. A Vulg. omit ἐξῆλθεν: and A omits the following καὶ before ἐφώνησεν, which Vulg. retains; so Lachm. But BC support ἐξῆλθεν—καί; so Tisch.—E.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 14:18 . πυρός . The figure of this angel (= Jehuel in rabbinic tradition. Gfrörer, i. 369) has an Iranian tinge. The justice of the punishment is attested by its origin in the purpose of one who corresponded to the Persian Amshas-pand ( cf. on Rev 1:4 ), Ashem Vahishtan, who presided over fire and at the same time symbolised the closely allied conceptions of goodness, truth, and right in Zoroastrian mythology ( cf. H. J. , 1904, 350). A similar representation of an angel speaking from the fire in connexion with providence occurs in Chag. 14 b .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

from the altar--upon which were offered the incense-accompanied prayers of all saints, which bring down in answer God's fiery judgment on the Church's foes, the fire being taken from the altar and cast upon the earth.

fully ripe--Greek, "come to their acme"; ripe for punishment.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. Power over fire] Probably meaning the same angel which is mentioned, Rev 8:3; Rev 9:13, who stood by the altar of burnt-offering, having authority over its fire to offer that incense to God which represents the prayers of the saints.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) And another angel . . .—Translate, And another angel, . . . he who hath authority over the fire. The two scenes—one in Rev_6:9-10 (the souls crying beneath the altar), the other in Rev_8:5 (the angel mingling incense with the prayers of the saints)—must be remembered. The angel who had charge of the altar fire, and flung the ashes betokening judgments towards the earth, calls with a loud cry, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. the altar] Rev_6:9.

which had power over fire] Plainly the A. V. leads us to understand an elemental Angel, like “the Angel of the Waters” in Rev_16:5. This is not impossible: the word “fire” has the article, but in Greek “the element of fire” would be naturally so expressed. It may therefore be, that “the Angel of Fire” is made to invoke the judgement on the wicked which will be executed by fire. But probably here and at Rev_8:3-5 we are to understand that this is the Angel “who had power over the fire” on the Altar. He appears also in rabbinical literature.

Thrust in] Send as in Rev_14:15.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And another angel came out from the altar,.... Where are the souls of the martyrs of Jesus, Rev 6:9 and whom this angel is thought by some to represent, in his address to him that had the sharp sickle, crying for vengeance on the wicked of the earth, who had shed their blood: the allusion seems to be to the altar of burnt offerings, where the sacrifices were slain, and on which they were burnt with fire; and which was an emblem of the strict justice of God, showing, that those persons, for whom these sacrifices were offered, deserved to be treated in like manner; and here the angel coming from thence signifies, that he came on the behalf of the justice of God, treating that he, to whom vengeance belonged, would execute it upon all the ungodly, who were ripe for judgment: and hence it is further said of him,

which had power over fire; whether the angels, as they have presided over particular kingdoms and states, Dan 10:20 preside over the elements, since this angel had power over fire, and another angel is called the angel of the waters, Rev 16:5 may be considered. According to the Jews (c) there are , "angels of fire", and , "angels of the waters"; particularly it is said (d), that Gabriel is , "the prince of fire", or "that has power over fire", and Jurkemo is , "prince of hail", or has power over it: however, fire is to be taken here, not for the Spirit, and his gifts, which not a created angel, but Christ only, has a power over, to baptize with; nor the Gospel, nor martyrdom, but rather the wrath of God, which in Scripture is often compared to fire, of which this angel was an executioner: and indeed here it may be referred, both literally to the burning of the world, and the wicked in it, in which the angels may be concerned, who will descend with Christ in flames of fire, taking vengeance on the wicked; and figuratively to hell fire, and the destruction of the wicked in it, who will be cast into it by the angels of God.

And cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, as in Rev 14:15 expressing like vehemence and importunity,

saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle: not commanding or directing, but entreating as before:

and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; not the vine of God's planting, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, the church of Christ; but the vine of the earth, of wicked and earthly men, whose vine is the vine of Sodom, &c. Deu 32:32 and which is spread over the whole earth; a wild vine, whose grapes are gall, clusters bitter, and their wine the poison of dragons; and to such a vine the wicked are compared, for their emptiness and unfruitfulness, their uselessness and unprofitableness, and for their being fit fuel for everlasting burnings; see Eze 15:2. And the clusters of it may denote the great multitude of the wicked now to be cut down, gathered in, and destroyed, the reason given,

for her grapes are fully ripe; their wickedness very great, their iniquity full, the measure of their sins filled up, and they fitted for destruction, and ripe for ruin; see Joe 3:13. Some understand this of the degenerate church of Rome, and the destruction of it; see Rev 19:15.

(c) Sepher Raziel, fol. 39. 2. Targum in 1 Reg. xix. 11. (d) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 118. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

Ver. 18. And another angel] A type of true pastors, saith Mr Forbes; by whose plain and powerful preaching the other are informed and stirred up to consecrate their hands to the Lord. Such an angel was Zuinglius, who died in battle; such was Beza in that battle that was fought in campis Druidensibus; such were the Angrognian ministers, and such were sundry of our late army preachers, Mr Marshal, Mr Ash, my dear brother Mr Thomas Jackson, now of Gloucester, &c.

Which had power over fire] Not Christum et Evangelium flammeum praedicans, as a popish varlet {a} slandered Beza at the afore mentioned sight, but as the pacifying the fire of contention among brethren, and setting them all together against the common enemy.

Thrust in thy sharp sickle] Fall on, quit you like men, be valiant for the Lord of hosts; "Cursed is he that doth the Lord’s work negligently. Cursed is he that withholdeth his sword from blood." Thus the faithful ministers strengthened the hands and hearts of the soldiers to battle, and made them stick close to their colours and commanders.

Are fully ripe] Ripe for vengeance, as the Amorites were, when they had filled the land from one end to another with their uncleanness, Ezr 9:11. About the year of grace 1414, Theodoricus Urias, an Augustinian in Germany, complained, that the Church of Rome was then become, ex aurea argenteam, ex argentea ferream, ex ferrea terream, superesse ut in stercus abiret; of gold silver, of silver iron, of iron earth, which would shortly turn to muck. (Jac. Revius.)

{a} A man or lad acting as an attendant or servant; a menial, a groom. Now arch. OED

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And another angel - The sixth in order. He came, like the angel in Rev 14:15, with a command to him who had the sickle to go forth and execute his commission.

Came out from the altar - This stood in the front of the temple (see the notes on Mat 21:12; compare the notes on Mat 5:23-24), and was the place where burnt-sacrifices were made. As the work now to be done was a work of destruction, this was an appropriate place in the representation.

Which had power over fire - As if he kept the fire on the altar. Fire is the usual emblem of destruction; and as the work now to be done was such, it was proper to represent this angel as engaged in it.

And cried with a loud cry, ... - See Rev 14:15. That is, he came forth, as with a command from God, to call on him who was appointed to do the work of destruction, now to engage in performing it. The time had fully come.

Thrust in thy sharp sickle - Rev 14:15.

And gather the clusters of the vine of the earth - That portion of the earth which might be represented by a vineyard in which the grapes were to be gathered and crushed. The image here employed occurs elsewhere to denote the destruction of the wicked. See the very beautiful description in Isa 63:1-6, respecting the destruction of Edom, and the notes on that passage.

For her grapes are fully ripe - That is, the time has come for the ingathering; or, to apply the image, for the winding up of human affairs by the destruction of the wicked. The time here, as in the previous representation, is the end of the world; and the design is, to comfort the church in its trials and persecutions, by the assurance that all its enemies will be cut off.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

From the altar; the place of sacrifices and burnt-offerings.

Which had power over fire; which had commission to execute God’s judgments, compared to fire, Psa 11:6; 21:9; 1:3.

And cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying: God’s holy ones cry unto him who hath a power to execute vengeance.

Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; put an end to the rage of antichrist, and gather those clusters which grew upon this vine of Sodom, and were as the clusters of Gomorrah.

For her grapes are fully ripe; for their iniquities were come to the full, and they were now ripe for judgment. Our learned Dr. More expounds this ripeness, of a readiness for conversion, as well as for destruction, and thinks the first is here rather intended: the last words of the next verse incline me to judge otherwise.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Another angel—The two angels of Rev_14:17-18, are the angels of the bloody vintage. The former has the sickle, and is the executioner; the latter reports the ripeness and readiness for the bloodshed.

Came out from the altar—As the previous came from the visional temple in the sky; where the divine wrath against Babylon is brewing. The altar is the basis on which the victim is placed with bloodshed; thence it is revealed that the moment is ripe for the sacrifice.

Power over fire—And was, therefore, the proper angel to guard the fires of the altar. The imagery presupposes the guardianship of the different elements by appointed angels. So in Rev_7:1-2, we have the angels of the four winds, and in Rev_16:5, the angel of the waters.

Are fully ripe—As the juice of the grape has fully matured for the press, so the sins of Babylon are full for divine punishment.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire. Both in Rev_6:9 and Rev_8:3 the altar is connected with judgment. The angel here described is he who is referred to in those places, the fire being the fire of the altar, the fire of judgment, (Rev_8:3) or, less probably; the angel who has power over fire generally. (as Rev_7:1 Rev_16:5) And cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying. Again the "loud voice," characteristic of the heavenly utterances (cf. ver. 15, etc.). Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe; send forth thy sharp, etc. (see on ver. 16). The sickle is figurative of the instrument by which the career of those on earth is terminated. The "sickle" and the "wine press" are both alluded to in the passage quoted above (on ver. 14) from Joe_3:13. (For the meaning of this gathering of the vintage, as representing the punishment of the wicked, see on ver. 16)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And another angel from the altar - Of burnt offering; from whence the martyrs had cried for vengeance. Who had power over fire - As "the angel of the waters," chap. xvi, 5, had over water. Cried, saying, Lop off the clusters of the vine of the earth - All the wicked are considered as constituting one body.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

18. Another angel came out from the altar. The altar of burnt offerings. Which had the power over fire. This angel, one that has power over fire, comes forth from the altar where fire was kept burning. Fire is an emblem of punishment, of destruction. He bids the angel who holds the sickle to begin his work, “to put forth his sickle and cut off the clusters of the vine of the earth, for they are ripe.” Grapes are chosen as a symbol of the wicked because of their harmony with the figure that describes the fate of the wicked. “The vine of the earth” means the world that lieth in sin, “earth” being used in an unfavorable sense thus far in Revelation.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

18. ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Primas[492] omits. Lach[493] omits ἐξῆλθεν with A.

[492] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

[493] Lachmann’s larger edition.

ἔχων. Lach[494] reads ὁ ἔχων with AC.

[494] Lachmann’s larger edition.

φωνῃ. Text. Rec[495] has κραυγῇ with C.

[495] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.

18. ἔχων ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρός. See crit, note. The rendering of A. V[501] “which had power over fire” leads us to understand an elemental Angel, like “the Angel of the Waters” in Rev 16:5. This is not impossible: the word “fire” has the article, but in Greek “the element of fire” would be naturally so expressed. It may therefore be that “the Angel of Fire” is made to invoke the judgement on the wicked which will be executed by fire. But it is easiest to understand that this is the Angel “who had power over the fire” on the Altar—perhaps therefore the Angel whom we have already heard of, Rev 8:3-5, the rather that an angel with this title is found in Rabbinical literature.

[501] Authorised Version.

πέμψον. See on Rev 14:15: here it can hardly mean that the Angel is to commit his sickle to others.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Altar [θυσιαστηριου] . See on Act 17:23.

Which has power [εξων εξουσιαν] . Lit., having power. Some texts add the article oJ. So Rev., "he that hath power."

Fire. In the Greek with the article, the fire.

Cry [κραυγη] . See on Luk 1:42.

Thy sharp sickle. Lit., thy sickle, the sharp.

Gather [τρυγησον] . From trugh dryness, included in the notion of ripeness, and hence the vintage, harvest. The verb means therefore to gather ripe fruit. It occurs only in this chapter and in Luk 6:44. Grapes [σταφυλαι] . The noun in the singular means also a bunch of grapes.

Are fully ripe [ηκμασαν] . Only here in the New Testament. From ajkmh, transcribed in acme, the highest point. Hence the verb means to reach the height of growth, to be ripe.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.