Revelation 11:13

On earthquakes as a punishment for sin, cf. Jos. Ant. ix. 10, 4 = Zechariah 14:5, and (for Sodom) Amos 4:11. The beast, as in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, gets off scatheless in the meantime, though his tools are punished or terrified into reverence (Jonah 3:5-10). ὀνόματα ἀ. Briggs ingeniously conjectures that this is a clumsy version of אנשׁי שׁמות = men of name or fame (cf. 1 Chronicles 5:24; Numbers 16:2). From this point till Revelation 16:19 and Revelation 20:9 Jerusalem seems to be ignored among the wider political oracles, except incidentally at Revelation 14:20 (see note), where another erratic block from the same or a similar cycle of eschatological tradition breaks the surrounding strata of prediction.

The ample and proleptic style of the next passage shows that the author has left his source in order to resume matters with (Revelation 11:14-18) the seventh trumpet-blast or third woe, which ushers in the final stage (1 Corinthians 15:52) of the divine purpose (10:7 = 12 20). But what immediately follows is, by anticipation, a celestial reflex of the last judgment which is characteristically deferred till “the various underplots of God's providence” (Alford) are worked out. The announcement of it starts an exultant song of praise in heaven.