The Plagues Written in This Scroll

The word rendered “plague” in Revelation (πληγή) is not a technical term reserved for judgments shaped like the plagues of Egypt. It means a blow — a stroke that hurts and brings harm. Luke uses the same word with no Egypt in view. The robbers on the Jericho road “stripped him and beat him,” leaving the traveler “half dead” in Luke 10:30 (NASB 1995) — the Greek says they laid blows (πληγάς) on him. The slave who “committed deeds worthy of a flogging” in Luke 12:48 (NASB 1995) deserved blows (πληγῶν). A plague, in the word’s plain sense, is whatever strikes and harms.

One Word Across Revelation

Revelation uses the word across that same breadth:

• The fire, smoke, and brimstone out of the mouths of the army’s horses — “these three plagues” in Revelation 9:18 (URV)
• Whatever the two witnesses strike the earth with — “every plague, as often as they desire” in Revelation 11:6 (URV)
• The stroke of the short-sword on one of the beast’s heads — the “deadly plague” that “was healed” in Revelation 13:3 (URV); the short-sword is named in 13:14
• The seven vials — “the seven last plagues” in Revelation 15:1 (URV), a “last” that places the earlier seal and trumpet judgments in the same series
• The great hail of the seventh vial — “the plague of the hail,” which is “exceedingly great,” in Revelation 16:21 (URV)

An army’s fire, a prophet’s judgments, a sword stroke, a hailstorm. The word will not narrow to one kind of event, and it will not narrow to a replay of Egypt. What the plagues of Revelation share is not a pattern; it is severity. Each one strikes, and each one harms.

The Warning of Revelation 22:18

“I testify unto every man who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this scroll, and if any man shall take away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city, which are written in this scroll.”

— Revelation 22:18–19 (URV)

Because the word “plague” cannot be narrowed, the warning of Revelation 22:18 should not be narrowed into a placement in time. The sentence does not say that the one who adds will be made to live through the seals, trumpets, and vials. It says what God will add: plagues, and plagues of a stated kind — “the plagues that are written in this scroll.” The scroll measures what the plagues coming on such a person are like, and the plagues of the scroll are severe.

The shape of the warning is a return of words for words. Whoever adds words to the scroll finds the scroll’s words added back. Verse 19 runs the same way in reverse: take away from the words, and your part is taken away. Put plainly: if you use your words, my word will come on you.