TRADITION VS SCHOLARSHIP

Revelation 11:8 says "the great city" is the place "where also their Lord was crucified." What name does the book give "the great city" in chapters 16 to 18?

The answer

Babylon. When "the great city was split into three parts," God "remembered great Babylon" (Revelation 16:19), and the woman Babylon "is the great city" (17:18). Yet in 11:8 the great city is where Jesus was crucified.

Why it’s interesting

11:8 is most likely Jerusalem, as its own words suggest. Some scholars ask whether the book means two cities at once with the one phrase. The text uses the same words for both and never explains.

Genuinely debated

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