Revelation 1-5: Word Biblical Commentary [WBC]

In this volume, David Aune extensively annotates the translation of the text with his illuminating insights into the variant readings and the nuances of every significant word. He presents a comprehensive inventory and evaluation of all categories of textual evidence, and an exhaustive assessment of the peculiarities of the syntax in the Greek in the introduction. A wide-ranging investigation of possible sources in the ancient cultural traditions reflected in the literature of the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, and the wider ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman world is also included with the verse-by-verse commentary. Each chapter receives a minutely expanded outline and focuses on the total book implications of such matters as: the use of chronological eschatological visions, the recurring sets of seven, the paired angelic revelations beginning in 17:1 and ending in 21:9, the scenes in the Heavenly Throne-room with their hymns, and possible connections between the scrolls in Chapters 5 and 10.

David E. Aune is professor of Theology with specialties in New Testament and Christian Origins at Loyola University. He holds degrees from Wheaton Graduate School of Theology and the University of Minnesota. His Ph.D. is from the University of Chicago.