• Table of Contents
  • What you must know to read and understand this book
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: The Purpose of this Book
  • Chapter 2: The Dead Sea Scrolls Textual Variant
  • Chapter 3: The Dead Sea Scrolls Variant Points to the Old Testament Sacrifices
  • Chapter 4: The Second Coming Fulfills the Old Testament Sacrifices
  • Chapter 5: The Wicked are a Sacrifice
  • Chapter 6: The Meaning of the Sacrifice Symbolism in Isaiah 34
  • Chapter 7: Additional Hard Stops for the Duration of Punishment
  • Chapter 8: The End of the Wicked is Ashes Outside the City, Not Endless Torment
  • Chapter 9: The Wicked of the Sea are No More
  • Chapter 10: More "αἰῶνας αἰώνων" Pointers to Ashes, Dead Souls, and Second Coming Judgment
  • Chapter 11: Hell is Made Holy and Poetic Justice is Served
  • Chapter 12: The Language of Action with Endless Results and Finite Duration
  • Chapter 13: Final Interpretation and Checking the Answer in the Back of the Book
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography

Hell is Made Holy

How the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Revelation show that the wicked and hell cease to exist

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By David Aaron Beaty

Visit author’s web site at www.davidaaronbeaty.com

Chapter 5

The Wicked are a Sacrifice

As I mentioned previously in this book, many of those in John's ancient audience of the Book of Revelation would have been familiar with the Aramaic Targums^G which were Aramaic translations of books of the Hebrew Bible. There's very significant evidence that John and the Holy Spirit used material found exclusively in the Targums in order to help communicate clearly with those familiar with the Targums. One of the most prominent examples of this is found in John's use of the phrase "the Word" to equate Jesus with the living and breathing person who is the very Word of God. Of course John does this in his gospel of John with his famous intro to Jesus, the Star of his gospel book:

[John 1:14-15 WEB] 14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about him. He cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’"

John and the Holy Spirit do this again though in Revelation:

[Revelation 19:12-13 WEB] 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. 13 He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called "The Word of God."

This obvious equating of the Word of God with the qualities and capabilities of a Person is popping out of every corner of the Targum books of the Old Testament, many of which have been determined by Targum scholars to contain many wordings, phrases, and concepts which predate Christianity. On the other hand, this personification of God's Word as a person is very hard if not impossible to find in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible from which most of our modern Old Testament bibles are translated. It is extremely easy to observe this by looking in an English translation of the Targums such as the series of books which make up the set entitled "The Aramaic Bible". It might be beneficial for one to limit their search for the person, the "Word", to those Targum biblical books in the larger Targum book groups entitled, "Targum Jonathan" and "Targum Onkelos". Targum Onkelos consists of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Targum Jonathan consists of the Jewish named subset of biblical books referred to as the "Nevi'im" or "Prophets". The books of the Prophets are Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These Targum book groups, Jonathan and Onkelos, generally contain the Targum biblical books with the earliest dates of writing, many of which are believed by Targum scholars to have been written in their first phase of development around the same time that the New Testament was being written. I will be discussing this more later, but scholars also believe they contain much material which predates Christianity altogether. If you search for the "Word" in Targums Jonathan and Onkelos you will find the person, the "Word", doing just about everything that a person does except for buying groceries and mowing the lawn. If you do the same exercise looking in a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament in your modern Bible, you might see something that looks a little bit like personification of the Word if you look really long and squint really hard. In the "The Aramaic Bible" book set, wherever you see the word, "Memra" this is the person, the "Word" of God. "Memra" means "Word". "Memra" is just a phonetic transliteration^G into English of the Aramaic word meaning "Word" in English. Just a few examples of the "Word", "Memra" being portrayed as a person are here below from Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah:

[Jeremiah 3:20 Targum Jonathan] Thus, as a woman deals falsely with her husband, so have you lied against my Memrau>, O House of Israel, says the Lord." (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 57)

[Jeremiah 6:8 Targum Jonathan] Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my Memra loathe you; lest I make you desolate like the land of Sodom which is not inhabited." (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 66)

[Jeremiah 31:9 Targum Jonathan] When they were exiled, when they were weeping, they were taken into exile: but on their return from among their exiles I will bring them near with great mercies. I will lead them to streams of water by a straight road: they shall not stumble on it, for my Memra will be like a father for Israel, and Ephraim is beloved before me. (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 131)

[Jeremiah 31:28 Targum Jonathan] So it shall be that, as my Memra rejoicesu> over them to uproot and to break, and to split and to destroy and to do evil, so my Memra will rejoice over them to build and to establish, says the Lord. (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 133)

[Jeremiah 42:5 Targum Jonathan] But they said to Jeremiah: "May the Memra of the lord be among us as a true and faithful witness, if we do not act according to every word in which the Lord your God has sent you to us, (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 159)

If you look up these passages above in your modern English Bible, almost all of which are based on the Hebrew Masoretic text, you will see no signs of a person being the "Word". All this has led some scholars to believe that there is a strong case that the personification of the "Word" in the writings of the Holy Spirit in Revelation and the gospel of John are borrowing this phenomenon from the language of the Targums. See sources:

a. John L. Ronning, 1954, "The Jewish Targums and John's logos theology"

b. Paul V.M. Flesher and Bruce Chilton, 2011, "The Targums a Critical Introduction", pgs. 423 to 436

The idea that John has referred to the Targums in Revelation is further strongly supported by his wording used in Revelation 2:11 & 2:17, shown below. As you can see, John associates both the "ears" that "hear" directly and the "new name" indirectly with the "second death":

[Revelation 2:11 WEB] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.

[Revelation 2:17 WEB] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.

In the English translation of Isaiah 22:14 & 65:15 from Targum Jonathan from the "The Aramaic Bible", set of Old Testament Targum books, Volume 11, shown below, we see that the Targum translator has done the same thing that John has, associating the "ears" that "hear" and the new "name" with the "second death":

[Isaiah 22:14 Targum Jonathan] The prophet said, With my ears I was hearing when this was decreed before the LORD God of hosts: "Surely this sin will not be forgiven you until you die the second death," says the LORD God of hosts. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 44)

[Isaiah 65:15 Targum Jonathan] You shall leave your name to my chosen for an oath, and the LORD God will slay you with the second death; but his servants, the righteous, he will call by a different name. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 124)

The similarities between these four verses I just showed are obviously striking. If we read Isaiah 22:14 & 65:15 again below, translated from the Masoretic Hebrew text, the clear connection to the "second death" is essentially broken:

[Isaiah 22:14 WEB] Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

[Isaiah 65:15 WEB] You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name,

The combination of the "ears that hear", the "Word", the "new name", and the "second death" in Revelation, creates a strong connection to the Targums that essentially demolishes the theory that this is just coincidence. John is very likely borrowing from the Targums. As you may know, the phrase "second death" appears three more times in Revelation, and John makes it painfully obvious that he is using the phrase as an equivalent to "the lake of fire", hell. As of 2022, if you performed an exhaustive search through essentially all of ancient literature written very close to or before the New Testament, written in the common languages that John's ancient audience would have been exposed to, you would find that the phrase "second death" appears only in the Aramaic Targums^G, with just one exception. This author did that search and so have numerous scholars with the same result. The search done throughout all of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic ancient documents built up in large exhaustive academic online databases only finds the phrase "second death" in the Aramaic Targums^G with one exception. The one exception is a clearly unrelated use of the phrase in the work of the 1st to 2nd century AD Greek philosopher Plutarch where he describes the second death as the second death of the soul which leads into, "a blessed and divine life". This is in Plutarch's work "Moralia" in his book entitled "The Face on the Moon" on page 942 in the old Stephanus page numbering system. This exclusivity of the evidence and the other connections to the Targums that I've just shown make a very strong case that the Holy Spirit in the writings of John is intentionally borrowing from the Targums in order to communicate known concepts with His ancient audience. Aramaic was one of the common languages in Asia Minor in the late first century AD, and many of the Jews of the seven churches of Revelation who frequented the synagogues there would very likely have been hearing the readings of the Targums in the synagogues. In the book of Acts, a synagogue is even mentioned directly as being located in the city of one of the seven churches of Revelation at Ephesus:

[Acts 18:19 WEB] He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.

Also, the evidence is "all but irrefutable" within scholarship that the Targums are translations which were intended to be read in the synagogues (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, intro pg. xxiii). We will see that it is very likely that this practice of Targum reading in the synagogues had begun before the time of Jesus and the writing of the New Testament. So it is very likely that John and the Holy Spirit in Revelation are speaking the biblical language of the common people when they use phrases found in the Targums.

One concept that John's audience may have associated with the Targum phrase "second death" is the concept of the wicked becoming a "sacrifice" in God's judgement against them. Of course this is just the same concept of the wicked being a sacrifice that John elsewhere points to in Revelation with his use of phrases like "the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever" borrowed from the sacrifice language of Isaiah 34. In Targum book subsets Onkelos and Jonathan, which have substantial scholarly support to contain concepts and wordings which predate Christianity, the phrase, "second death" appears only six times. Two of these appearances are in the Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah 51. One of the passages for example from the Targum reads:

[Jeremiah 51:39-40 Targum Jonathan] 39 Bring distress upon them, and they shall be like drunken men, so that they shall not be strong; and they shall die the second death, and shall not live for the world to come, says the Lord. 40 I will hand them over like bulls to the slaughter, like rams, with goatsu>. (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 187)

Does the animal slaughter language in the passage above ring any bells? Of course this is the same type of sacrifice language we've already seen in Isaiah 34 being pointed to by Revelation 14:11 and 19:3 with the use of pointing phrases like, "smoke rises forever and ever". If we further inspect Jeremiah 51, we find that its general content and numerous specific unique phrases are full of dead ringer parallels to both Isaiah 34 and to the destruction of Babylon in Revelation 17-19. This makes it even more possible that John is using the Targum phrase "second death" in Revelation to point his Aramaic speaking audience directly to Jeremiah 51. It makes it likely that the animal slaughter language seen in Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah 51:39-40 above is in fact also sacrifice language, even though the word "sacrifice" does not specifically appear in it. Our modern Bibles translating the ancient Hebrew Masoretic text also show the animal slaughter in Jeremiah 51:40. The various parallels between Jeremiah 51 and each of Isaiah 34 and Revelation 17-19 are as follows:

1. Babylon/Edom are destroyed: Jeremiah 51, Isaiah 34, and Revelation 17-19

2. People symbolized as animals being slaughtered and/or sacrificed:

3. Nations get drunk on the wine of Babylon:

4. Babylon is on many waters:

5. Babylon/Edom are desolate animal habitations:

6. God says "come out" from Babylon to avoid God's punishments:

7. Rejoicing/Joy over the destruction of Babylon:

8. Babylon will sink like a stone at its destruction:

9. Dead bodies are lying around everywhere in Babylon/Edom:

10. It is the day of "God's Vengeance" in Edom and Babylon:

11. Details of the destruction of Babylon/Edom are recorded in a "book":

With all the points of parallelism above between Jeremiah 51, Isaiah 34, and Revelation 17-19 we can easily see that the three passages are strongly related like the points of a solid triangle. Given that, is it possible that John would point to the content of Jeremiah 51 in the Targums by using the unique Targum phrase "second death"? Of course it's possible. He's already filling up Revelation directly with Jeremiah 51 content in Revelation 17-19. Of course it's possible. He's already pointing to Jeremiah 51 type of content multiple times in Isaiah 34 with his use of pointing phrases like, "The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night" in Revelation 14:11; 19:3; & 20:10. With all this considered, it makes sense to entertain the possibility that John in Revelation could again be pointing here to the idea of the wicked being a sacrifice in Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah 51 when he quotes the Targum phrase "second death" which is also found in Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah 51.

"its smoke goes up for generations", "it burns night and day", "it will not be extinguished forever/eternally/for an age"

So is it possible that phrases like these above which Revelation is pointing to in Isaiah 34 are applying the symbolism of the continual morning and evening regular sacrifice onto the slaying of the wicked at the second coming? Of course it's possible. One can easily see from the evidence that I've just presented that John may be doing something just like this again by pointing to the sacrifice of the wicked in Jeremiah 51 with his use of the Targum phrase "second death".

The connections that I have just described between the second death and the Targums, for some will generate more questions than answers. For those doubting these connections it will be useful to know that there are more of these. They are obvious in both the sayings of Jesus and in the other New Testament writings. A very important one is the fact that Targum Jonathan of Isaiah 65:5-6 equates the second death with hell/Gehenna just as John does in Revelation. Here's the targum passage:

[Isaiah 65:3-6 Targum Jonathan] 3 a people who incite to anger against my Memra before me continually, sacrificing in your gardens of the idols and offering up spices upon bricks; 4 who sit in the houses they build from the dust of tombs, and reside with the corpses of the sons of men; who eat swine’s flesh, and abominable broth is in their vessels; 5 who say, "Get behind, do not come near me, for I am more clean than you." These, their anger is as smoke before me, their retribution is in Gehenna where the fire burns all the day. 6 Behold, it is written before me: "I will not give them respite while they live, but theirs is the retribution of their sins; I will hand over their bodies to the second death. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pgs. 123 to 124)

This Targum passage above sounds a lot like the rotting dead bodies in Gehenna/hell that Jesus and Isaiah describe here in these two passages:

[Mark 9:47-48 WEB] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, 48 ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’

[Isaiah 66:22-24 WEB] 22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me," says Yahweh, "so your offspring and your name shall remain. 23 It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me," says Yahweh. 24 "They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

The Aramaic Targum version below of the Hebrew Isaiah 66 passage above shows the Targum translator making the same connection as Jesus. The Targum translator below does just like Jesus does in the Mark 9 passage above and he labels this place of bodies and unquenchable fire as "Gehenna". Take a look at the Targum version:

[Isaiah 66:23-24 Targum Jonathan] 23 From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all the sons of flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD. 24 And they shall go forth and look on the bodies of the sinful men who have rebelled against my Memra; for their breaths will not die and their fire shall not be quenched, and the wicked shall be judged in Gehenna until the righteous will say concerning them, We have seen enough." (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 128)

Of course you can see the Targum translator in Isaiah 66 above has done some rather questionable changes, but in spite of this, his translation still creates a connection between the New Testament and the Targum by labeling the place of the dead bodies and fire as "Gehenna" just as Jesus does in the New Testament. Some who are desperate to support the doctrine of traditionalism will look at the Isaiah 66 passage above from the Targum and say, "There we have a torment of endless duration." This is in spite of the obvious fact that the passage describes an end of the punishment, "until the righteous will say concerning them, We have seen enough." That end point of the punishment is of course very

unusual from an evangelical Christian point of view, but nonetheless it is clearly there. The Targum ideas that the torment of the wicked at the end of Isaiah 66 is "Gehenna" and that it will last only for a finite, but long, amount of time may be concepts that date at least back to the time of the 1st century Rabbi Akiva who lived between 50 and 135 AD. The Mishnah^G, in Eduyoth 2:10, records the words of Rabbi Akiva where he identifies the judgement at the end of Isaiah 66, "where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched", as being Gehenna, and Akiva interprets the Isaiah 66 description of judgment as meaning that the judgment will last only for one year. (Flesher, 2011, pg. 392) Seeing interpretations so closely mirroring Rabbi Akiva's in Targum Jonathan of Isaiah gives us valid evidence to support the idea that some concepts found in Targum Jonathan of Isaiah are at least as old as Rabbi Akiva from the 1st or early 2nd centuries AD. In turn, this gives us more reason to believe that ideas and phrases from a Targum of Isaiah may have been referred to in the book of Revelation written near the end of the 1st century AD. According to Rabbinic Judaism^G, the Mishnah^G is a written record of the Oral Torah^G which allegedly was passed down orally for centuries since the time of Moses. The Oral Torah^G is not the Torah, the first five biblical books of Moses, but is a very large additional group of rules and traditions which Rabbinic Jews believe are mandatory to follow. The written Mishnah^G was composed in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In addition to the likely fingerprints of Rabbi Akiva, Targum Jonathan of Isaiah also contains other earmarks of having 1st century AD content which came from even before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, intro pgs. xxiii to xxiv). Targum Jonathan of Isaiah 28:1 below, which assumes the ongoing existence of the temple "sanctuary" and the high priest who wears the "turban", just as he does in the Old Testament, is an example of this:

[Isaiah 28:1 Targum Jonathan] Woe to him who gives the crown to the proud, the foolish master of Israel, and gives the turban to the wicked one of the sanctuary of his praise, which is on the head of the rich valley of those wounded with wine! (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 54)

This again urges us to entertain the idea that the New Testament book of Revelation may contain Targum Isaiah concepts or phrases which were John's approach to communicating in a way his Aramaic speaking audience may have known.

There are more similarities and connections that can be described between the Targums and the New Testament. Targum scholars Paul V.M. Flesher and Bruce Chilton have devoted the entirety of chapter 17 in their 2011 book, The Targums a Critical Introduction, doing precisely that. Robert Hayward in volume 12, The Targum of Jeremiah, page 27 of the Targum book set The Aramaic Bible, also describes more similarities and connections between the New Testament and specifically Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah. Of the New Testament connections to the Targums that Flesher, Chilton, and Hayward list, some that this author found to have no Hebrew Old Testament parallels are shown in the five numbered verse comparisons which follow. These five I show below might have parallels in the Septuagint or elsewhere though as some of the parallels shown by Flesher, Chilton, and Hayward did have parallels to the Hebrew Old Testament that this author was able to find with very deep electronic searches:

1. [Isaiah 50:11 Targum Jonathan] Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who grasp a sword! Go, fall in the fire which you kindled and on the sword which you grasped! This you have from my Memra: you shall return to your stumbling. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 99)

[Matthew 26:52 NASB20] 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.

2. [Isaiah 27:8 Targum Jonathan] With the measure you were measuring with they will measure to you, because you were sending away and distressing them, muttering against them in speech, becoming strong against them as a day of cursing. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 53)

[Matthew 7:2 NASB20] 2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

3. [Isaiah 5:22-23 Targum Jonathan] 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking and men of possessions in getting drunk from old wine, 23 who acquit the sinner because they received from him mammon of deceit and wickedly take away the innocence of the innocent! (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 12)

[Luke 16:9 WEB] I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

4. [Isaiah 8:19 Targum Jonathan] And when the Gentiles that you are among say to you, "Inquire of oracles and necromancy, those who chirp and twitter," is not this the way of the Gentiles who serve idols? The people inquire of their idols, the living from the dead. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 20)

[Luke 24:5 NASB20] 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why are you seeking the living One among the dead?

5. [Jeremiah 32:5 Targum Jonathan] And he shall carry Zedekiah to Babylon, and he shall be there until his memorial comes in before me, says the Lord: if you wage war with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.'" (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pg. 136)

[Acts 10:4 HCSB] Looking intently at him, he became afraid and said, "What is it, lord?" The angel told him, "Your prayers and your acts of charity have come up as a memorial offering before God.

As you've seen by all the concepts and phrases that are shared by both the New Testament and the Targums, it appears as if both Jesus and John made the assumption that their audiences had already been exposed to the Targums and knew materials from them well. This notion is supported by the witness of the first century AD Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus records that by his time the Torah was being listened to in the synagogues every week by men who would "desert their other occupations and assemble to listen". For this to occur, an Aramaic translation, whether read aloud or recited from memory, would have necessarily been offered. This would have allowed the common Aramaic speaking Jew to understand God's word. (Flesher, 2011, pgs. 3 to 7) The notion that the Targums existed before Christianity is also supported by Targums found among the Dead Sea scrolls. Portions of the Targums of Job and Leviticus were found at Qumran (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. ix). Taking into consideration all the numerous phrases and concepts which the Targums and the New Testament share leads us to the conclusion that there were "pre-Christian Targums"^G which were written, circulated, and existing well before Christianity. Josephus and the Targums found among the Dead Sea scrolls, as mentioned above, also help lead us to this conclusion. I will continue to use the term "pre-Christian Targums"^G as I have just defined it going forward throughout this book. One might deny that these pre-Christian Targums^G were in written form, instead favoring the theory that they were just an oral tradition that was memorized and passed along from person to person. For this to happen, numerous specific concepts and phrases found in multiple books of the Bible would need to be memorized by numerous people and then recited aloud frequently in a widespread geographical area over the course of decades without the numerous specific concepts and phrases themselves being lost in this very tenuous process. Lots of people across a widespread geographic area would also need to be frequently gathering with each other both reciting and memorizing the passages without the aid of any written manuscripts. All this would necessarily have to happen in order for the concepts and phrases in the Targums to become widespread and well known enough through strictly oral transmission for Jesus and John to use their material and expect their audience to be familiar with it. If you believe an oral transmission like this is possible, I have some very useful swampland I would like to sell you for a good price. It is provable and repeatable that if one person orally tells another person something and then that person tells another person something and then that person tells another person something, by the time you get to the last person you have nothing like what was said by the first person. Unique phrases and concepts uttered by the first person are very likely to be lost in transmission. Have you ever played the party game of telephone? Targum scholar Bernard Grossfeld, regarding the Pentateuch only, asserts that written Targums of the Pentateuch must have been in existence and circulating in Israel before the writing of Targum Onkelos of the Pentateuch due to sufficient references being scattered throughout the ancient Jewish Rabbinic literature. He estimates that Targum Onkelos was initially written sometime from the beginning to the middle of the 2nd century AD. He asserts that the scriptural interpretations found in Targum Onkelos "rest" "upon" the "tradition" of Rabbi Akiva. With what looks to be some degree of speculation, he goes on even further to say that written Targums of the Pentateuch which preceded Onkelos were likely in existence even back into the 1st century BC due to the fact that the much less popular book of Job already had a Targum by this time. (Grossfeld, 1990, Vol. 6, pgs. 32 to 34) Recall that Rabbi Akiva lived between 50 and 135 AD. Grossfeld's comments generally provides us with some indirect scholarly support for the idea that written pre-Christian Targums^G were instrumental in preserving and disseminating the many Targum phrases and concepts which found their way into the New Testament. Even if you insist on believing that the pre-Christian Targums^G were only a body of orally transmitted fully memorized Aramaic translations, you will still be able to follow some or maybe all of the points that I will be making in regard to what the Targums may reveal about concepts in the New Testament.

Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah shows signs of containing very early material just as Targum Jonathan of Isaiah and Targum Onkelos do. Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah shares many conceptual or phrasal similarities with the Dead Sea scrolls, Josephus, the New Testament, Pseudo-Philo's Book of Biblical Antiquities, and the Septuagint. All of these sources are known to be of 3rd century BC to 1st century AD origin, and Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah's commonalities with them demonstrates, "that certain basic exegetical points" of Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah are "older than 70 A.D., and are of possibly pre-Christian origin". (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pgs. 26 to 28) The type of Aramaic which Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah uses justifies a view which places its origins in the timespan of the 1st to 2nd centuries AD. The geographical terms it uses point to an origin before the Jewish bar Kohkba rebellion against Rome in 132 AD. Its perspective looking forward to the destruction of the temple and its perspective on the still existing temple priests both point to an origin for Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah of before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pgs. 35 to 37)

Are the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan that we actually have on hand now an accurate reflection of the content of the pre-Christian Targums that the audience of John and Jesus would have known? Maybe some biblical books found in Onkelos and Jonathan are themselves pre-Christian Targums, or at least some of them may have been written before the book of Revelation which was written near the end of the 1st century AD. Jesus and John were clearly quoting from pre-Christian Targums in order to prompt their audiences to call to mind Targum concepts which would add to or clarify their teachings. If we as modern people are going to benefit from this same type of supplementation and clarification which results from being familiar with Targum concepts, then we must study Targum concepts and phrases which we know at least could really be from pre-Christian Targums. These must be pre-Christian Targum concepts and phrases which have not been corrupted by editing which occurred well after the writing of the New Testament. Whether the specific Targum concepts and phrases that I am referencing in this book (such as the "second death") from Targums Onkelos and Jonathan are pre-Christian, without any later editing after the writing of the book of Revelation, may be a debatable topic. I will simply present to you the evidence that I know of on this topic and leave it up to you or others to do further research on this. As you have seen, the Targums which I have been focusing on are Jonathan and Onkelos because they are known to have the earliest dating of writing. This might indicate that they are the Targums which are most likely to be pre-Christian Targums or that they are the Targums that are most likely to just contain concepts and wording which accurately reflect the pre-Christian Targums. Whether we can rely on Jonathan and Onkelos to accurately provide us with pre-Christian Targum concepts though is not a simple question. Although the writing of Targums Jonathan and Onkelos can not be definitively dated to have happened before the writing of Revelation, there is good evidence to show that many of the unique concepts and wording that only they contain are clearly dated to be pre-Christian (Kim, 2008, pgs. 83 to 85 | Flesher, 2011, pg. 386). All the Targum phrases and concepts which I have already demonstrated to be common to both the New Testament and Targum Jonathan are some of that "good evidence".

As you may have noticed, in my discussion this far I have generally been referring to Jonathan and Onkelos. The only individual books in Jonathan and Onkelos which contain the phrase, "second death" are Deuteronomy of Onkelos and Isaiah and Jeremiah of Jonathan. Since Jonathan contains several biblical books which scholarly work demonstrates were primarily authored well after the New Testament, I will attempt to show only dating evidence which pertains in some way to the books of Jonathan and Onkelos that the second death appears in, namely Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. The "second death" is the main Targum concept we are interested in for this discussion, so that limitation is appropriate. It just so happens that Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah are some of the books in Jonathan and Onkelos which several of the most prominent Targum scholars claim very early authorship for. Not all Targum scholars have agreed with this assertion of early authorship. The dating estimates of the several prominent scholars who assert early authorship differ, but they generally describe their writing to be in the 1st to mid 2nd centuries AD. There is even some scholarly support for the idea that all three of them were initially written before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The dating of these Targums Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos is not so simple though. The several prominent Targum scholars all assert that these Targums underwent a first phase of development in Israel sometime in the previously mentioned 1st to mid 2nd centuries AD. This first phase of development they refer to as the "Tannaitic" development phase. After the 132 AD bar Kohkba rebellion against Roman rule in Israel, when much of the Jewish religious leadership went into exile again in Babylonia, these scholars assert that Targums Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos all underwent a second phase of development or editing in Babylonia during the exile. They assert that this second phase was complete by the early 4th century AD. This second phase is referred to by these scholars as the "Amoraic" phase of development. If correct, this multistage development would mean that Targums Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos may contain concepts and phrases from both the Tannaitic and later Amoraic phases of development. These prominent scholars have confidence that specific characteristics from both the Tannaitic and Amoraic phases can be detected in the Targums of Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos. To a large degree, this detection is done with literary analysis that takes into account how the individual concepts and phrases in these Targums relate to other accurately dated ancient documents and also how they relate to accurately dated historical events occurring from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. These scholars have focused on some of the various different individual phrases or concepts found in these Targums and have been able to confidently date them individually with far more precision than can be achieved for any one of these Targum books as a whole. This author is not aware of an existing fully developed, in-depth literary dating analysis that has been specifically done for the concept and phrase "second death" as it is described in the Targums of Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos. So this author cannot say with certainty that the way that the "second death" is defined by its use in the Targums of Jonathan and Onkelos is strictly a pre-Christian definition which would have been well known by John's ancient audience of Revelation. There is some literary dating evidence for the Onkelos and Jonathan definition of the second death that I will show in chapter 6, but this evidence does not seem completely conclusive to this author. With the knowledge this author has, I can only say that the definition of the "second death", as it is described in Onkelos and Jonathan, may be purely pre-Christian. This only creates the distinct possibility that Targums Jonathan and Onkelos define the "second death" identically to how John and his ancient audience of Revelation would have understood it. This author failed to understand and describe this uncertainty in the first edition of this book, and for that I express my sincerest apologies to my readers. In spite of that, it is outside the scope of this book to delve into a comprehensive literary dating analysis of the concept and phrase "second death" as it appears in the Targums of Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos. I would like to urge others to find or perform the full literary dating analysis, if either is possible. This might give significant confidence that the definition of the "second death", as it is found in Jonathan and Onkelos, is the same concept that John uses in Revelation. As we will see in chapter 6, the definition of the "second death" in these Targums of Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos has no conformance with traditionalism, and some very significant signs of conformity to conditionalism. So the literary dating analysis may have significant value for supporting conditionalism. For those who would like to delve a bit deeper and check my sources for the generalized dating details I have just provided in this paragraph, I have provided a numbered list below of additional more granular dating information with citations for the Targums of Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Jonathan and Onkelos:

1. Targums Onkelos and Jonathan display a very high degree of linguistic standardization, containing very uniform characteristics imposed onto the Jewish Literary Aramaic which they are written in. This standardization is not observed in Jewish Literary Aramaic documents before Onkelos and Jonathan. Accomplishing this type of standardization throughout a large body of work such as Onkelos and Jonathan during the times of upheaval and war which commenced at the time of the destruction of the temple in 70 AD is unlikely as it would require an established and stable source of religious authority and scribal training which would not likely exist during a time of war and upheaval. This supports the idea that the first phase of development of Onkelos and Jonathan was accomplished before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Analysis of the concepts contained in Onkelos and Jonathan also support this same pre-70 AD first development phase date. (Flesher, 2011, pgs. 273 to 274) The reader should call to mind that this dating would place the writing of the Targums of Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Jeremiah of Onkelos and Jonathan before the writing of Revelation which likely occurred nearer the end of the 1st century AD.

2. Targum Onkelos, which includes Deuteronomy, was developed in a two phase process. It was initially written sometime in the first two centuries AD in Israel, then later revised in the 3rd or 4th centuries AD in Babylonia. (Flesher, 2011, pgs. 84 to 85)

3. The study of various Aramaic dialects and their development in Judaism mandates that the first development phase of Onkelos, including Deuteronomy, had to have occurred between 50 to 150 AD (Flesher, 2011, pg. 157).

4. One of the "most definitive statements" on the subject of the dating of Targum Onkelos, which includes Deuteronomy, was made by Professor Goshen-Gottstein. Professor Goshen-Gottstein's stance is that the first phase of the development of Targum Onkelos was completed between 70 and 135 AD in Israel. (The first phase development is referred to as "Proto-Onkelos".) Proto-Onkelos was then transferred to Babylonia in the mid 2nd century AD where it underwent further "redaction and changes". (Grossfeld, 1990, Vol. 6, pgs. 10 to 11)

5. The first phase of the development of Targum Onkelos, which includes Deuteronomy, was completed sometime from the beginning to the middle of the 2nd century AD in Israel (Grossfeld, 1990, Vol. 6, pg. 33).

6. Targum Jonathan of Isaiah also shows internal signs of having been completed in two phases of development, the Tannaitic phase in Israel and the later Amoraic phase in Babylon. It shows characteristics belonging to the period just after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and also characteristics indicative of the perspectives of the rabbis in Babylon in the 4th century AD. (Flesher, 2011, pg. 173)

7. Analysis of the scriptural interpretations found in Targum Jonathan of Isaiah support the assertion that its first phase of development occurred before the Jewish bar Kohkba rebellion against the Romans in 132 AD, and then the second phase was completed in the 4th century AD. Targum Jonathan of Isaiah contains interpretations which pertain to the concerns of the translators of the first Tannaitic phase of development in Israel. It also contains interpretations which pertain to the concerns of the translators of the second Amoraic phase of development in Babylon. (Flesher, 2011, pg. 181)

8. The extensive analysis of the scriptural interpretations found in Targum Jonathan of Isaiah by scholar Bruce Chilton has indicated that Targum Jonathan of Isaiah received its first Tannaitic phase of development in Israel by Jonathan ben Uzziel who "flourished" between 70 and 135 AD. Chilton's work further indicates that Targum Jonathan was "perhaps incomplete" after the first phase, and then was completed in its second Amoraic phase of development in Babylon by Rabbi Joseph bar Hiyya of Pumbeditha, who died in 333 AD. Rabbi Joseph bar Hiyya of Pumbeditha is identified in the Babylonian Talmud^G as the second phase Targum translator. The two stage development model is supported by a consensus of scholars. (Flesher, 2011, pgs. 174 to 175)

9. The first Tannaitic phase of development of Targum Jonathan of Isaiah in Israel may or may not have resulted in the translation of the entire book of Isaiah. Some of the translation may only have been completed for the first time in the second Amoraic phase of development in Babylon. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, intro pg. xxiv)

10. Targum Jonathan of both Isaiah and Jeremiah contain scriptural interpretations which demonstrate that they were both created in a two phase development, with the second Amoraic phase being characterized by "revision" during the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD. The first Tannaitic phase of development is evident in the interpretations in these Targums which are associated with the historical events occurring between the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and the bar Kohkba revolt against the Romans in 132 AD. (Flesher, 2011, pg. 226)

11. The "origins" of Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah are from the land of Israel, during or slightly before the 1st century AD. The "foundations of it were laid already" by the early 2nd century AD. It "continued to grow and receive attention" until the 4th century AD. Its "basic substratum" is from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, although "its roots" may be even older. (Hayward, 1987, Vol. 12, pgs. 36 to 38)

12. Targum Jonathan of Jeremiah underwent the same two-stage development as Targum Jonathan of Isaiah, with the first Tannaitic phase occurring "in the decades prior to the bar Kohkba revolt" in 132 AD and the second Amoraic phase during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. (Flesher, 2011, pgs. 199, 208 to 211)

There is another very important question which may occur to those who are trying to decide whether or not they will believe that the New Testament is using concepts and wording found in the Targums. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Did Jesus and the New Testament authors use pre-existing Targum concepts and phrases, or did the very Jewish writers of Targums Jonathan and Onkelos load up their work with Christian concepts and phrases invented by Jesus and the New Testament authors? A relatively confident answer to this question can be derived from the fact that Targums Onkelos and Jonathan were and still are the property, possession, and production of Rabbinic Judaism^G, which since its inception just after the time of Jesus has intentionally and overtly rejected Jesus as their Messiah. See below, for example, an excerpt from the Babylonian Talmud^G in which Rabbinic Jews express an open claim of origination and acceptance of Targums Onkelos and Jonathan. In the Babylonian Talmud^G in Megillah 3a we read:

"The Gemara cites another ruling of Rabbi Yirmeya or Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba. Rabbi Yirmeya said, and some say that it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba who said: The Aramaic translation of the Torah used in the synagogues was composed by Onkelos the convert based on the teachings of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua. The Aramaic translation of the Prophets was composed by Yonatan ben Uzziel based on a tradition going back to the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Gemara relates that when Yonatan ben Uzziel wrote his translation, Eretz Yisrael quaked over an area of four hundred parasangs [parsa] by four hundred parasangs, and a Divine Voice emerged and said: Who is this who has revealed My secrets to mankind?" (KTB, 2014, Vol. 12, Megillah 3a)

In the Babylonian Talmud^G excerpt above we can see: a hint of the use of the Targums for reading in the synagogues, the Rabbinic influence on Targums Jonathan and Onkelos, the authorship of Targum Onkelos of the Torah by the convert Onkelos, and the authorship of Targum Jonathan of the Prophets by Yonatan (Jonathan) ben Uzziel. So the writers and editors of Targums Onkelos and Jonathan would have had zero desire to extensively poach Christian sayings and concepts to put in their Targums. This does not mean that Targums Onkelos and Jonathan are composed of only tainted anti-Christian materials which would have never been quoted or referenced by Jesus and the New Testament authors. As I've described previously, there's a very strong case that Onkelos and Jonathan contain many pre-Christian Targum concepts and phrases which Jesus and the New Testament authors deemed fully worthy of quotation and use. These pre-Christian Targum concepts and phrases were very likely content that the Aramaic speaking 1st century AD ancient audiences of Jesus and the New Testament authors would have been very familiar with. Although Rabbinic Judaism's^G extensive involvement with Targums Onkelos and Jonathan should obviously motivate us to approach them with caution, at the same time it also can assure us that many of the phrases and concepts they contain are not simply poached from Jesus and the Christians. Instead, Rabbinic Judaism's^G extensive involvement with Targums Onkelos and Jonathan supports the idea that the phrases and concepts which appear in both the New Testament and in Onkelos/Jonathan were in existence before the New Testament. Based on this then, Onkelos and Jonathan should be expected to be an odd blend of some anti-Jesus content stuffed in with all the other pre-Christian Targum content which I've already shown you is used extensively in the New Testament. So Onkelos and Jonathan should contain a blend of content made up of some pre-Christian Targum materials which are harmonious with Christianity and some post-Jesus Rabbinic additions which are intentionally designed to contradict Christianity. They should contain some content which accurately explains New Testament Christian content, and some which overtly contradicts the New Testament. From this author's point of view, it does seem clear that Onkelos and Jonathan accurately clarify and explain some of the Targum concepts found in the New Testament. It's instances like these where Onkelos and Jonathan may be very useful in understanding Christianity. It's noteworthy though that none of the New Testament content which I have shown so far to have likely accurate clarifications in Onkelos and Jonathan has any direct bearing on the central doctrines of Christianity which sharply contradict Rabbinic Judaism. If Onkelos and Jonathan are characterized by Rabbinic Judaism, then we would expect to see some content in them which refutes the central doctrines of Christianity. This is exactly what we find. In the New Testament in Galatians 3:13 we find a quote of Deuteronomy 21:23 where Paul is recognizing a prophecy in Deuteronomy which supports Jesus' role of bearing God's curse against sin in our place for us on the cross:

[Galatians 3:13 WEB] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,"

In Galatians above Paul is likely quoting from the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy here:

[Deuteronomy 21:22-23 LES1 Septuagint] 22 "But if there is a sin in someone, there shall be a judgment of death, and he shall die, and you shall hang him on a tree. 23 His body shall not sleep upon the tree; rather, with a funeral you shall bury him in that day, for all who hang on a tree are cursed from God. And you shall not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a portion."

For reference, here is an English modern translation of Deuteronomy 21:22-23:

[Deuteronomy 21:22-23 WEB] 22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.

And then here below is Deuteronomy 21:22-23 of Targum Onkelos where we may see an anti-Christian Rabbinic alteration. Notice how the description of sin is relocated so that it is much more directly attributed to the one being hanged, and the curse that Jesus took in our place has mysteriously vanished. This helps to erase Jesus from the passage, as Jesus was of course sinless and took on the curse we deserve:

[Deuteronomy 21:22-23 Targum Onkelos] When a man guilty of the judgment of death is put to death, and thou hast hanged him on a gibbet; his body shall not remain upon the gibbet, but thou shalt surely bury him on that day: for he was hanged because he had sinned before the Lord; and thy land which the Lord thy God hath given thee to inherit shall not be defiled. (Etheridge, 1865, pg. 522)

Jesus is further erased from the Targum Jonathan of Isaiah in the famous messianic chapter 53. Here in an English modern translation of Isaiah 53:5 we see the prophecy of Jesus being crucified for our sins:

[Isaiah 53:5 WEB] But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.

Then in the Targum Jonathan of Isaiah, Jesus has mysteriously disappeared and been replaced with the temple. Also, in what may be an unchristian like manner, forgiveness of sins comes merely through just an attachment to Messiah's words:

[Isaiah 53:5 Targum Jonathan] And he will build the sanctuary which was profaned for our sins, handed over for our iniquities; and by his teaching his peace will increase upon us, and in that we attach ourselves to his words our sins will be forgiven us. (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, pg. 104)

In Targum Jonathan of Zechariah we also find Jesus being conspicuously erased. Targum Jonathan of Zechariah has a close relation to the Targums Jeremiah and Isaiah of Jonathan, simply being part of the same larger work of Targum Jonathan, but it also has the same dating scheme of having its first Tannaitic phase of development completed in Israel before the 132 AD bar Kohkba revolt against the Romans. It also underwent the same second Amoraic development phase of "revision" in Babylonia in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC as we have discussed for Targums Jeremiah and Isaiah of Jonathan. (Flesher, 2011, pgs. 199, 226) Here below in an English modern translation of Zechariah 11 and 12 we see the prophecies of Jesus being betrayed for 30 pieces of silver by Judas, and the prophecy of his crucifixion:

[Zechariah 11:12-13 WEB] 12 I said to them, "If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them." So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Yahweh said to me, "Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!" I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in Yahweh’s house.

[Zechariah 12:10 WEB] I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.

Just as with the other Targum passages, Jesus mysteriously vanishes. I know Jesus can miraculously vanish if he wants to. Jesus has done this before, but this seems much more likely to be the doing of a Rabbinic Jewish scribe who has rejected Jesus. See the altered Targum passages below:

[Zechariah 11:12-13 Targum Jonathan] 12 And I said to them, 'If it is good in your eyes fulfil my will; and if not, refrain.' And some people fulfilled my will." 13 And the lord said to me, "Write a record of their deeds on a writing tablet and cast it into the Sanctuary, into the care of an official, because my fear was precious in their eyes." So I wrote a record of their deeds on a writing tablet and cast it into the Sanctuary of the Lord, into the care of the chief official. (Cathcart, 1989, Vol. 14, pgs. 214-215)

[Zechariah 12:10 Targum Jonathan] And I will pour upon the House of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of mercy and compassion, and they shall entreat me because they were exiled; and they shall mourn for him just as they mourn for an only son and shall lament for him as they lament for a firstborn. (Cathcart, 1989, Vol. 14, pgs. 218-219)

As I mentioned before, all these characteristically Rabbinic Jewish alterations to the Targum texts clearly add evidence to the assertion that Targums Jonathan and Onkelos have not been intentionally loaded up with the copied sayings of Jesus and the New Testament authors. The Rabbinic Jews who clearly rejected Jesus would have had no interest compiling a collection of Christian sayings in their Targums Jonathan and Onkelos. It is far more likely that Targums Jonathan and Onkelos have much pre-Christian Targum content in them which Jesus and the New Testament authors quoted from frequently to speak in religious language and phrases that their Aramaic speaking audiences were very familiar with. We might be tempted to think that the anti-Christian alterations found in Targums Jonathan and Onkelos indicate that they are a poisoned well from which we can learn nothing about the sayings of Jesus and the New Testament authors. Extreme caution should be used applying this characterization to Targums Jonathan and Onkelos though, as it may lead to us missing out on the light they may shed on enigmatic New Testament phrases such as the "second death" which clearly have their origin in the Targums.

Using Targums as a resource to understand Jesus and the New Testament is not an invention of this author. Prominent targum scholars such as Bruce Chilton and Paul

V.M. Flesher give enthusiastic endorsements to the Targums as an aid to understanding the New Testament and the 1st century AD Judaic setting it developed in. Some cited quotations of these endorsements from Flesher and Chilton are below:

"The Targumim are a rich source of that form of early Judaism where the folk and the expert (i.e., rabbinic) aspects of the religion met. For that reason, serious students of the New Testament should read them to help them comprehend the religious and social context within which Jesus taught and in which his movement first developed, especially in the years before the transition to a Hellenistic social milieu and the Greek language." (Flesher, 2011, pg. 386)

"If modern scholars hope to understand the scriptural knowledge of average Jews of this period—as opposed to the highly educated yet small rabbinic elite—then they need to turn away from the Hebrew text and toward the Aramaic Targums which provided that knowledge." (Flesher, 2011, pg. 338)

"The insight which the Targum offers into devotional, as distinct from professional, Judaism is all the more valuable because in its Tannaitic phase it reflects developments in the period before and immediately after A.D. 70." (Chilton, 1990, Vol. 11, intro pg. xxvi)

The Revelation theme that the wicked are a sacrifice does not stop at its likely reference by the second death. Yet another example of a pointing reference to this theme is very likely accomplished by John's use of a very rare Greek word construction where he puts two of the Greek word for age, αἰών, Strong's word^G G165, back to back with no other word between them in Revelation 14:11. This rare phrase only occurs once in the entire New Testament right here in Revelation 14:11. The specific phrase in Revelation 14:11 which is best supported by the ancient New Testament manuscripts with the headword^G or lemma altered to specific forms is: "αἰῶνας αἰώνων". English translations, of course, translate this odd phrase somewhat incorrectly as "forever and ever" in order to make it read smoothly. For textual critics, this two word phrase in Revelation 14:11, "G165 G165" in all of its various inflected forms^G, with no additional word between the two words, is supported by ancient manuscripts: Chester Beatty papyri P47, Codex Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi Rescriptus. Only three of the four great uncial^G manuscripts contain Revelation 14:11. Of these three great uncial^G manuscripts, only the Sinaiticus manuscript inserts the word "τῶν" between the two words of the phrase. The two word phrase in Revelation 14:11 is also supported by the prolific New Testament Greek critical editions^G: Wescott Hort, Nestle Aland, Society of Biblical Literature Edition, Robinson Pierpoint, Stephanus Text, Textus Receptus, Family 35, and the Hodges Farstad Majority Text^G. So whether you fall into the majority text^G camp or the critical text^G camp, the rare word construction is still very well supported by the ancient manuscripts and essentially all top textual criticism^G scholarship. A comprehensive search in the largest online academic database of ancient Greek documents in existence as of 2022, the TLG®, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae®, only finds this phrase (comprised of two back to back occurrences of Strong's word^G G165) in one other place in ancient documents written before the New Testament. (This holds true for all possible combinations of all possible inflections^G, singular or plural, of the two instances of Strong's word G165 used in the phrase "G165 G165".) Guess where it can be found? You guessed right! "G165 G165", in any of its inflected forms^G, only appears in the Septuagint, and then it only appears in just five of the Psalms: 19, 21, 22, 37, & 132 and once in the apocryphal short story of Susanna. An excerpt from the TLG® website says:

"The TLG® Digital Library contains virtually all Greek texts surviving from the period between Homer (8 c. B.C.) and the fall of Byzantium in A.D. 1453 and a large number of texts up to the 20th century."

It is also a repeated finding in scholarly works that this rare phrase can be found nowhere in any ancient Greek writings before the Septuagint. So it is very likely the case that it is an entirely unique "Septuagintism", designed by Septuagint translators to enable the Greek language to effectively express the meaning of the Hebrew text. It should be noted that the Septuagint is only represented in the TLG® by the semieclectic^G text, "Rahlfs", Septuagint, aka "Septuaginta: id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes" and not by the specific texts of the very numerous existing ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint. There may be other occurrences of the rare two word phrase in textual variants^G from various other ancient manuscripts. For example, searching for the phrase with all possible combinations of inflections^G in Swete's Septuagint reveals one additional occurrence of the phrase in a textual variant^G in Psalm 45:6 of Codex Vaticanus, which is the primary ancient manuscript used by Swete. Swete generally only uses other manuscripts for his main text when Vaticanus is missing portions. As indicated by Swete, the Vaticanus textual variant^G in Psalm 45 is not present in manuscripts Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, R (Psalterium Graeco-Latinum Veronense), and T (Psalterium Turicense), and is supported by no other of the ancient manuscripts considered important enough by Swete to use in his textual criticism^G (Swete, 1891, Vol. II, pg. 271). It's worth noting too that searching the entire critical apparatus^G in Swete's Septuagint for all possible inflection^G combinations of the rare two word phrase, "G165 G165", reveals no other occurrences of it in addition to the seven that I've mentioned now. Additionally, the five Psalms 19, 21, 22, 37, 132 and Susanna passage can all be confirmed to have the rare two word phrase, "αἰῶνα αἰῶνος", in the more updated "Gottingen Septuagint" critical edition^G, "Vetus Testamentum Graecum". The Gottingen Septuagint does not have the rare two word phrase in Psalm 45 as Codex Vaticanus does (Rahlfs, 1931, Vol. X | Ziegler, 1954, Vol. XVI, Part 2). The Gottingen Septuagint, as you may know, is generally seen as the latest, most dominant Septuagint critical edition for the biblical books it contains.

The occurrences of the rare two word phrase, "G165 G165", found in the Old Testament Septuagint are all the variant where each of the two G165 words are singular like this, "αἰῶνα αἰῶνος", "age age" instead of plural. Revelation 14:11 has the plural variant like this, "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages" as I previously showed. This does not break the connection between the Old Testament Septuagint and New Testament phrase though. In the Bible, the phrase expressed in Strong's numbers, "G165 G165", that we are looking at so closely has a close cousin phrase, "G165 G3588 G165" which has the definite article, G3588, ὁ, ho sandwiched into the middle of it. "G165 G3588 G165", throughout the Bible, can be literally translated as "ages of the ages", "age of the age", or "age of the ages". Almost without exception, the New Testament shifts from the Old Testament's frequent use of the singular phrasal version "age of the age", "αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος" over to the frequent use of the plural phrasal variant "ages of the ages", "αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων". This clues us in that the New Testament very likely has also done the same thing with the highly related cousin phrase that we are focusing on in Revelation 14:11, "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "G165 G165". It just repeats the same maneuver and shifts the Old Testament use of the singular phrase variant "αἰῶνα αἰῶνος", "age age" over to the plural variant, "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages" in its single New Testament use in Revelation 14:11. The connection between the New Testament plural and Old testament singular phrase is not broken. The New Testament is very likely just following the repeatedly used shift in convention. The New Testament convention shift likely is:

"αἰῶνα αἰῶνος" singular = "αἰῶνας αἰώνων" plural So the conclusion is that the rare and odd phrase "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages" in Revelation 14:11, would have stuck out to John's audience like a sore thumb as just not being the way people normally speak. It would have gotten their attention as a weird way to say something, and ultimately those among John's audience who knew the Psalms from the Septuagint, would have known exactly what it was, a pointer to the Psalms and Susanna in the Septuagint. We still might remain unconvinced that John and the Holy Spirit are directing us to these Psalms and the book of Susanna, but when we go and read their content we run into a large volume of evidence that supports the idea that we very very likely are being intentionally directed to required reading which explains the meaning of Revelation 14:11:

[Revelation 14:11 WEB] The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever ("αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages", "G165 G165"). They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

All six of the Psalms (including the one resulting from the textual variant^G in Psalm 45) and Susanna are related directly to judgment of the wicked, and three of them contain some of the same wording as Revelation 14:10-11. These strong connections obviously go far beyond any possible coincidence. If just one or a few of these Psalms and Susanna passages contained similar content to Revelation 14:10-11, then we might be more apt to think of them as coincidence. All of them strongly connect though seven times repeatedly, like getting dealt a dominantly winning hand seven times in a row while playing poker. I will go into some of the content of the other passages later, but for now I would like to start out with just one of these Psalms that use the unique and rare word construction, "αἰῶνα αἰῶνος". I will start with just Psalm 22. Psalm 22 gives us yet another assertion that the wicked are to be a sacrifice, acting yet again in the same repeated style of Revelation 14:11 using the phrase, "the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever" to point to the wicked being a sacrifice in Isaiah 34: "its smoke goes up for generations", "it burns night and day", "it will not be extinguished forever/eternally/for an age". Revelation 14:11 points to Psalm 22 with the unique phrase "αἰῶνας αἰώνων" and then Psalm 22, in an oddly roundabout way, describes the wicked as a sacrifice. One of the background concepts that we need to understand in order to know how Psalm 22 does this, is the fact that temple sacrifices and other activities were often accompanied by songs being sung by the Levite temple singers (See: 1 Chronicles 9:33, 1 Chronicles 23:27-31, Psalm 134:1-3).

The introductory verse 1 title to Psalm 22, depending on which ancient translation of the Bible that you are looking in, goes something like this:

Scholar Sigmund Mowinckel in his 1962 book "The Psalms in Israel’s Worship" pg. 214 states that this odd Hebrew expression in the Masoretic text, "specifically alludes to an animal offered in sacrifice, and to an act of sacrifice at the early dawn". He goes on to say that the expression would be related to a sin offering. Obviously, what I am trying to emphasize here is that Psalm 22 is probably a Psalm that was sung by the Levite singers while an early morning sin sacrifice or continual morning regular sacrifice was being offered to the Lord. Does this sound like the other pointers that we have seen in Revelation which point to passages which are potentially regarding the continual morning and evening regular sacrifice or just a sacrifice? With its use of the odd and unique word construction, "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages", for "forever and ever", Revelation 14:11 is doing just this. This is similar to what we have already seen, but also quite different.

"its smoke goes up for generations", "it burns night and day", "it will not be extinguished forever/eternally/for an age"

So is it possible that john in Revelation 14:11 is using this line, "And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night" to point to continual morning and evening regular sacrifice symbolism shown in the phrases just above from Isaiah 34? Of course it's possible. From what I've just shown, one can see that he's already pointing to a morning sacrifice Psalm/song from within the very same line using the pointing phrase, "αἰῶνας αἰώνων". And as I mentioned before, we'll see that even the content of the morning sacrifice Psalm 22 which John points to describes the wicked as a sacrifice in a roundabout way.

As you may know, Psalm 22 is a prophecy about Jesus. Our Lord quoted from the first verse as He hung from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Verses 16 and 18 foretell of the way He would die and of the blasphemy of the Roman soldiers casting lots to see which of them could loot His clothing, "They have pierced my hands and feet.", "They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing." Then in verses 28 and 29 we are told of Jesus' coming kingdom, "For the kingdom is Yahweh’s. He is the ruler over the nations. All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him". This is just as we see Jesus in Philippians 2 below:

[Philippians 2:9-10 WEB] 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

In verse 2 of Psalm 22 we even have some language which is strikingly similar to Revelation 14:11:

[Psalm 22:2, 29 NASB20] 2 My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. ... 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

[Revelation 14:11 WEB] 11 The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

By using the same language Jesus used while calling for His own salvation, to describe the fate of the wicked, John has portrayed the wicked as being fated for a tragic role reversal. Jesus suffers and dies as a sacrifice for sin while ceaselessly calling on God for salvation by day and by night. God comes and saves Him after His suffering is complete. He is resurrected. He is saved. Jesus enters His rest, taking His rightful place as King of kings and Lord of lords ruling from Jerusalem in the millennium, just as in the Septuagint version of Psalm 132 below:

[Psalm 132:13-14 Vaticanus original translation] 13 "Because the Lord chose Zion, he desired it for his dwelling; 14 this is my resting place into age age; here I will dwell, because I have desired it."

This verse above is a translation of one of the other four Greek Septuagint Psalms that John is very likely pointing to with his use of "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages" in Revelation 14:11. It uses the same odd double back to back repetition of the lemma/headwordG αἰών as found in Revelation 14:11, "The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever ('ages ages'). They have no rest day and night". Here's an English translation of the Hebrew Masoretic text version of portions of Psalm 132 with even more restful sleepy talk, just the same as we find it Revelation 14:11:

[Psalm 132:1-5, 8, 13-14 NASB20] 1 A Song of Ascents. Remember, LORD, in David's behalf, All his affliction; 2 How he swore to the LORD And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 3 "I certainly will not enter my house, Nor lie on my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, 5 Until I find a place for the LORD, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob." ... 8 Arise, LORD, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. ... 13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it as His dwelling place. 14 "This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

Is all this sleepy talk in Psalm 132 above just a coincidence? Or is John maybe pointing to this in Revelation 14:11 when he uses the odd word construction "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages" in his line, "And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night"? As opposed to Jesus above in Psalm 132, the wicked, on the other hand, have no rest, day and night, maybe even in the sense that they have no rest day and night calling on God to save them after it is too late. Jesus calls out to God day and night, suffers as a sacrifice for sin, and then is saved. Maybe the wicked call to God day and night in the events described in Revelation 14:11 when it is too late. They then become their own sacrifice paying for their own sins. They are not saved. They do not enter rest. Instead, as described in Psalm 22 below, they suffer the ultimate negative fate of no rest and the death of their souls, as also seen in the several passages which follow:

[Psalm 22:2, 29 NASB20] 2 My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest …29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

[Matthew 10:28 WEB] Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

[Matthew 11:28-29 WEB] 28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

[Hebrews 4:1-2 WEB] 1 Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard.

This theory of tragic role reversal that I have just described is further obviously supported by a verse which comes right after Revelation 14:11. The righteous receive rest, but the wicked do not. See below:

[Revelation 14:13 NASB20] 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."

You can see Revelation 14:13 above intentionally reverses the roles, just as John's pointing to Psalm 22 does. So John by putting the odd word construction "αἰῶνας αἰώνων", "ages ages" on the description of the fate of the wicked in Revelation 14:11 is very likely pointing to a Psalm 22/song written to be sung over a morning sacrifice, which contains content about Jesus, The Ultimate Sacrifice. This is yet another of the many pointing references in Revelation which indicate that the wicked will be a sacrifice. With this in mind, is it so far fetched that the three uses of the phrases like "The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night" in Revelation 14:11; 19:3; and 20:10 are pasting the sacrifice symbolism of the continual morning and evening regular sacrifice onto the final fate of God's enemies? There are even more instances of this in Revelation, but I've pointed out five now. So I think its safe to say that the horse has been thoroughly beaten to death. In Revelation, the wicked are repeatedly a sacrifice, and so it's highly likely that the line, "And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night" in Revelation 14:11 is just following along in the same repeated style, pointing to continual morning and evening regular sacrifice symbolism in Isaiah 34.

So can you count now how many descriptions of God's judgment being poured out are contained in John's single line, "And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day and night"? I count three now, but as impossible as it seems John will rack up the count even higher. As the count continues to climb we'll know with even greater confidence what John and the Holy Spirit are saying in Revelation 14:11.