Before Jerusalem Fell

128 BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL
in Revelation, such would not be the exclusive reference (c~ Rev.
5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6).
“7% Land”
In addition, the Greek word for “earth” in Revelation 1:7 is y~,
which most usually means either: (1) “earth, globe” or (2) “land.”rn
Thus, upon purely lexical considerations, the term can be understood
as designating the Promised Land. As a matter of fact, literal translations
of the Scripture lean in this direction. Robert Young’s Literal
Translation of tb Ho@ Bible translates it: “Lo, he cloth come with the
clouds, and see him shall every eye, even those who did pierce him,
and wail because of him shall all the tribes of the land. Yes! Amen!”21
Marshall’s TLu Interlirwar Greek-English Nm Testament concurs: “Be-
hold he comes with the clouds, and will see him every eye and [those]
who him pierced, and will wail over him all the tribes of the land.
Yes, amen.”2 2
Desprez’s comments on this matter are most helpful:
The words rj yij, are not infrequently used in the Apocalypse in
connection with other clauses which qualifi their meaning, making it
evident that no particular land is pointed out, but earth gener-
ally. . . . But the words in question are sometimes found qualified
by governing considerations which define and determine their mean-
ing, and this k always the case, when they are found in connection with
the governing clauses “they that dwell,” ol KCZ~OIKO~VT&~. Then they
have, and can have, only one meaning; then they refer only to one
land and to one people, and this land and this people must be the
land and the people ofJudea.23
The significance of this translation of rj y~ can be discerned from
spiritual-cultural situations, such as noted by Edersheim: “For, to the
Rabbis the precise limits of Palestine were chiefly interesting so far
as they tiected the religious obligations or privileges of a district.
20. See Arndt and Gingrich, p. 156 Thayer, pp. 114-115. G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual
Greek La&on oft/u New Testament (Edinburgh: T. &T. Clark, 1937), p. 91.
21. Robert Young, % New Testament m Likral Translation of tb Ho~ Bible (Grand
Rapids: Baker, [1898] rep. n.d.), p. 167.
22. Alfred Marshall, The Intdinear Greek-English New Testarnast, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1959), p. 956.
23. P. S. Desprez, T/u Apocalypse Fu@lled, 2nd ed. (London: Longman, Brown, Green,
Longmans, 1855), pp. 12-13.