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11:11 “Forty two months”: The Old Testament book of Daniel describes a time of persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a period that lasted three and a half years—42 months. The number three and a half has additional symbolic resonance: it is half of seven, the perfect number.
King Solomon and the Sacred Chest, by Blaise Nicolas Lesueur (1716-1783)
11:17 This hymn sings God’s ultimate triumph, when all the faithful will be rewarded, and those who “destroy the earth” will themselves be destroyed.
c. [11:6] Ex 7:17.
d. [11:7] Dn 7:21.
e. [11:11] Ez 37:5, 10.
f. [11:12] 2 Kgs 2:11.
g. [11:18] Ps 2:1, 5 / Am 3:7.
REVELATION 
two lampstands* that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5* If anyone wants to harm them, re comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. 6They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to a ict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.c
7When they have nished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss* will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.d 8Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city,* which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was cruci ed. 9* Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation
will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. 10The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. 11But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.e 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.f 13At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell in ruins. Seven thousand people*
were killed during the earthquake; the rest were terri ed and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14The second woe has passed, but the third is coming soon.
The Seventh Trumpet.* 15Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to his Anointed, and he will reign forever and ever.” 16The twenty-four elders who sat on their thrones before God prostrated themselves and worshiped God 17and said:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God almighty, who are and who were.
For you have assumed your great power and have established your reign.
18The nations raged,
but your wrath has come,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and to recompense your servants, the prophets,
and the holy ones and those who fear your name, the small and the great alike,
and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”g
19Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant
could be seen in the temple. There were ashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm.
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* [11:5–6] These details are derived from stories of Moses, who turned water into blood (Ex 7:17–20), and of Elijah, who called down re from heaven (1 Kgs 18:36–40; 2 Kgs 1:10) and closed up the sky for three years (1 Kgs 17:1; cf. 18:1).
* [11:7] The beast. . .from the abyss: the Roman emperor Nero, who symbolizes the forces of evil, or the antichrist (Rev 13:1, 8; 17:8); cf. Dn 7:2–8, 11–12, 19–22 and Introduction.
* [11:8] The great city: this expression is used constantly in Revelation for Babylon, i.e., Rome; cf. Rev 14:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:2, 10, 21. “Sodom” and “Egypt”: symbols of immorality (cf. Is 1:10) and oppression of God’s people (cf. Ex 1:11–14). Where indeed their Lord was cruci ed: not the geographical but the symbolic Jerusalem that rejects God and his witnesses,
i.e., Rome, called Babylon in Rev 16–18; see note on Rev 17:9
and Introduction.
* [11:9–12] Over the martyrdom (Rev 11:7) of the two witnesses,
now called prophets, the ungodly rejoice for three and a half days, a symbolic period of time; see note on Rev 11:2. Afterwards they go in triumph to heaven, as did Elijah (2 Kgs 2:11).
* [11:13] Seven thousand people: a symbolic sum to represent all social classes (seven) and large numbers (thousands); cf. Introduction.
* [11:15–19] The seventh trumpet proclaims the coming of God’s reign after the victory over diabolical powers; see note on Rev 10:7.