Peter S. Williamson - Revelation

Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture

S ERIES E DITORS

Peter S. Williamson

Mary Healy

A SSOCIATE E DITOR

Kevin Perrotta

C ONSULTING E DITORS

Scott Hahn , Franciscan University of Steubenville

Daniel J. Harrington, SJ , Weston Jesuit School of Theology

William S. Kurz, SJ , Marquette University

Francis Martin , Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Frank J. Matera , Catholic University of America

George Montague, SM , St. Marys University

Terrence Prendergast, SJ , Archbishop of Ottawa

2015 by Peter S. Williamson

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www . bakeracademic . com

Ebook edition created 2015

Ebook corrections 03.14.2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-1964-0

Printed with Ecclesiastical Permission

Most Reverend Earl Boyea

June 19, 2014

The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the nihil obstat or imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

Except as otherwise specified, Scripture versification and quotations are from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, DC, and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

Scripture quotations labeled NET are from the NET BIBLE, copyright 2003 by Biblical Studies Press, LLC. www.netbible.com . Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled NJB are from THE NEW JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture richly provides what has for so long been lacking among contemporary scriptural commentaries. Its goal is to assist Catholic preachers and teachers, lay and ordained, in their ministry of the Word. Moreover, it offers ordinary Catholics a scriptural resource that will enhance their understanding of Gods Word and thereby deepen their faith. Thus these commentaries, nourished on the faith of the Church and guided by scholarly wisdom, are both exegetically sound and spiritually nourishing.

Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM Cap , United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

This could be the first commentary read by a pastor preparing a text and could be read easily by a Sunday School teacher preparing a text, and it would be an excellent commentary for a college Bible class.... The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture will prove itself to be a reliable, Catholicbut ecumenically open and respectfulcommentary.

Scot McKnight , Jesus Creed blog

This commentary series should meet a need that has long been pointed out: a guide to Scripture that will be both historically responsible and shaped by the mind of the Churchs tradition. It promises to be a milestone in the recovery of a distinctively Catholic approach to exegesis.

Aidan Nichols, OP , University of Oxford; Fellow of Greyfriars, Oxford

There is a great hunger among Catholic laity for a deeper understanding of the Bible. The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture fills the need for a more in-depth interpretation of Scripture. I am very excited to be able to recommend this series to our Bible Study groups around the world.

Gail Buckley , founder and director, Catholic Scripture Study International (www.cssprogram.net)

Coinciding with the Bishops Synod on The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church, this great project of a seventeen-volume commentary on the New Testament represents a much-needed approach, based on good scholarship but not overloaded with it. The frequent references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church help us to read Holy Scripture with a vivid sense of the living tradition of the Church.

Christoph Cardinal Schnborn , Archbishop of Vienna

To my wife, Marsha Daigle-Williamson, and to my mother, Beulah Pederson Williamson, with gratitude and love