Hebrew, Greek, and a few technical terms, alphabetically. Where a word appears in italics in the text, its meaning is given here in brief.
abomination of desolation — the sign from Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11), set up in the holy place, at which the Messiah made the command to flee take effect (Matthew 24:15-16).
aqara (עֲקָרָה) — "barren woman"; the childless woman who, in the prophets, breaks into song because her children become more numerous than those of the married wife (Isaiah 54:1).
Baali / Ishi — "my Master" / "my Husband"; in Hosea 2 the two names by which Israel calls upon God — from "Master" to "Husband", from service to love.
bala / katapinō (בָּלַע / καταπίνω) — "to swallow, to swallow up"; the verb of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 15:12) and of the earth that swallows the river (Revelation 12:16).
birth-pangs matrix — the six prophetic passages that place the end-time birth at the distress: Isaiah 26:17-19; 66:7-9; Jeremiah 30:6-7; Micah 4:9-10; 5:3; Daniel 12:1-2. See Part I and the master concordance, section 4.
Bozrah (בָּצְרָה) — a city in Edom; in Isaiah 34 and 63 the place from which the Redeemer comes with blood on His garment. The Hebrew form botsrah can also mean "sheepfold" (Micah 2:12).
chasa (חָסָה) — "to take refuge, to shelter"; a word from the Psalms for taking refuge in God, often "under His wings".
chuppah — the wedding canopy; in Jewish tradition the image under which Sinai is read as the marriage-mountain of God and Israel.
ekpheugō / exephygen (ἐκφεύγω) — "to escape"; the verb of Isaiah 66:7 LXX, where she escapes and gives birth before the pain comes. In the New Testament it stands twice in an eschatological sense: "watch and pray that you may be able to escape all these things" (Luke 21:36) and "they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3); further Hebrews 2:3 and 12:25, and four times in a non-eschatological sense.
El-roi (אֵל רֳאִי) — "the God who sees me"; the name Hagar gives to God at the spring in the wilderness (Genesis 16:13) — the first human in Scripture to give God a name.
erēmos (ἔρημος) — Greek for "wilderness"; occurs three times in Revelation: twice with the woman (12:6, 14) and once with the harlot (17:3).
goël ha-dam (גֹּאֵל הַדָּם) — "the avenger of bloodAvenger of BloodThe English translation of the Hebrew Goel ha-dam (גואל הדם) — the redeemer of the blood. Under the Mosaic law, the kinsman whose duty was to pursue and punish the killer of a relative (Numbers 35). The second of the three offices of the Goel, alongside redeemer and bridegroom."; the nearest kinsman who had the right to avenge a death — the figure against whom the city of refuge offered protection. In Hebrew this is the same root as goël, "redeemer": the avenger of blood and the Redeemer carry one word, where English needs two unrelated ones.
ha-poretz (הַפֹּרֵץ) — "the Breaker"; He who breaches the wall and leads the shut-in people out (Micah 2:13). The root stands there twice: He breaks through before them, and they break through after Him.
harpazō (ἁρπάζω) — "to catch up, to seize away by force"; the verb with which the Child is caught up to God's throne (Revelation 12:5), and with which the living are caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
hetoimazō (ἑτοιμάζω) — "to make ready, to prepare"; the word for the prepared place of the woman (12:6), the Bride made ready (19:7) and the prepared city (21:2; John 14:2); elsewhere in Revelation also for trumpets, horses, angels and the way of the kings (8:6; 9:7, 15; 16:12).
kanaf (כָּנָף) — "wing", but also "skirt, hem of a robe"; the word links the sheltering wing with the spreading of a garment over the bride (Ruth 3:9; Ezekiel 16:8).
katépien (κατέπιεν) — the perfect form "swallowed" (of katapinō); see bala.
ketiv / qere — text-critical terms: the ketiv is what is written in the Hebrew text, the qere what is read aloud. At Isaiah 63:9 the choice decides whether it reads "He was afflicted" or "it was no affliction to Him".
ketubah — the Jewish marriage contract; in the chuppah-reading, the image of the 10 words of Sinai as the terms of the covenant.
loipoi / epiloipoi (λοιποί) — "the rest"; the word for "the rest of her seed" (Revelation 12:17), which reaches back to the "rest" (hoi epiloipoi tōn adelphōn autōn) of Micah 5:3 LXX, where the Hebrew reads "the rest of his brothers" (yeter echav).
manna (מָן) — the bread from heaven in the wilderness; the name comes from the question man hu, "what is that?" (Exodus 16:15). In Hebrew the question and the name stand in the same verse.
marks (the four) — the weighing-marks this book places on every reading: well-documented, weighed, disputed, speculative / framework. See A Note on Method.
midbar (מִדְבָּר) — "wilderness"; the land where nothing grows and where this people meets its God again and again.
miqlat (מִקְלָט) — "refuge, city of refuge"; the city to which a manslayer could flee and stay safe "until the death of the high priest" (Numbers 35).
nesher (נֶשֶׁר) — "eagle"; the image of bearing (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11) and, in other texts, of judgment.
nikaō (νικάω) — "to overcome"; the word of the seven overcomer promises in the letters to the churches (2-3), the last of which is the throne of 3:21. In 12:11 it stands in the perfect tense: they have overcome by the blood of the Lamb.
nus / barach (נוּס / בָּרַח) — two verbs for "to flee": nus can carry "to flee to" a refuge, barach means "to flee away from".
rachef (רָחַף) — "to hover, to brood"; the rare word for the Spirit over the waters (Genesis 1:2) and for the eagle over its young (Deuteronomy 32:11).
Sea of Reeds — the sea that opened before Israel and closed over the Egyptians (Exodus 14–15); the backdrop of the earth that swallows the river.
Shoah — the murder of a third of the Jewish community in the twentieth century; faced in this book at "the time of Jacob's troubleJacob's troubleThe post-abomination tribulation of Matt 24:21 (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1) — the Judean remnant, the 1,260 days — distinct from the week-wide thlipsis of Rev 7:14." and the refined third part of Zechariah 13.
skēnoō (σκηνόω) — "to tabernacle, to dwell"; four times in Revelation, and each time of God and His people, never of angels: God over the multitude before the throne (7:15), the heavens and those who dwell in them (12:12), those whom the beast blasphemes (13:6), and God with men (21:3).
sukka (סֻכָּה) — "booth, shelter"; the image of God's protecting "booth" over the wilderness (Isaiah 4:5-6), bound up with the Feast of Booths as a remembrance of the wilderness years.
supersessionism (replacement theology) — the teaching that the congregation has replaced Israel; expressly rejected by this book (Romans 11).
Tanakh — the Hebrew Bible, named after its three parts: Torah (law), Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings).
tannin / Leviathan / Rahab (תַּנִּין / לִוְיָתָן / רַהַב) — the sea-dragon, the chaos monster of the ancient texts: tannin is the generic name, Leviathan and Rahab are proper names of the same figure, whom God subdued at the creation and at the Sea of Reeds (Job 26:12-13; Psalm 74:13-14; 89:11; Isaiah 27:1; 51:9).
Textus Receptus (Received Text) — the Greek text (after Scrivener) that this book holds to for the New Testament.
time, times, and half a time — the formula from Daniel (7:25; 12:7) for three and a half years, in Revelation 12:14 concerning the keeping of the woman; equal to the 1,260 days (12:6); the 42 months of the beast (13:5) measure the same three and a half years in the broader unit.
topos / maqom (τόπος / מָקוֹם) — "place"; the prepared place of the woman (Revelation 12:6) and the place the Son makes ready (John 14:2).
trephō (τρέφω) — "to nourish"; the verb used of the woman (12:6, 14), each time so that the nourishing hand stays out of view — the grammar of the manna.
zera / sperma (זֶרַע / σπέρμα) — "seed"; the word that can carry both the collective (the offspring) and the individual (the One) at once (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 3:16; Revelation 12:17).
Hebrew, Greek, and a few technical terms, alphabetically. Where a word appears in italics in the text, its meaning is given here in brief.
abomination of desolation — the sign from Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11), set up in the holy place, at which the Messiah made the command to flee take effect (Matthew 24:15-16).
aqara (עֲקָרָה) — "barren woman"; the childless woman who, in the prophets, breaks into song because her children become more numerous than those of the married wife (Isaiah 54:1).
Baali / Ishi — "my Master" / "my Husband"; in Hosea 2 the two names by which Israel calls upon God — from "Master" to "Husband", from service to love.
bala / katapinō (בָּלַע / καταπίνω) — "to swallow, to swallow up"; the verb of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 15:12) and of the earth that swallows the river (Revelation 12:16).
birth-pangs matrix — the six prophetic passages that place the end-time birth at the distress: Isaiah 26:17-19; 66:7-9; Jeremiah 30:6-7; Micah 4:9-10; 5:3; Daniel 12:1-2. See Part I and the master concordance, section 4.
Bozrah (בָּצְרָה) — a city in Edom; in Isaiah 34 and 63 the place from which the Redeemer comes with blood on His garment. The Hebrew form botsrah can also mean "sheepfold" (Micah 2:12).
chasa (חָסָה) — "to take refuge, to shelter"; a word from the Psalms for taking refuge in God, often "under His wings".
chuppah — the wedding canopy; in Jewish tradition the image under which Sinai is read as the marriage-mountain of God and Israel.
ekpheugō / exephygen (ἐκφεύγω) — "to escape"; the verb of Isaiah 66:7 LXX, where she escapes and gives birth before the pain comes. In the New Testament it stands twice in an eschatological sense: "watch and pray that you may be able to escape all these things" (Luke 21:36) and "they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3); further Hebrews 2:3 and 12:25, and four times in a non-eschatological sense.
El-roi (אֵל רֳאִי) — "the God who sees me"; the name Hagar gives to God at the spring in the wilderness (Genesis 16:13) — the first human in Scripture to give God a name.
erēmos (ἔρημος) — Greek for "wilderness"; occurs three times in Revelation: twice with the woman (12:6, 14) and once with the harlot (17:3).
goël ha-dam (גֹּאֵל הַדָּם) — "the avenger of bloodAvenger of BloodThe English translation of the Hebrew Goel ha-dam (גואל הדם) — the redeemer of the blood. Under the Mosaic law, the kinsman whose duty was to pursue and punish the killer of a relative (Numbers 35). The second of the three offices of the Goel, alongside redeemer and bridegroom."; the nearest kinsman who had the right to avenge a death — the figure against whom the city of refuge offered protection. In Hebrew this is the same root as goël, "redeemer": the avenger of blood and the Redeemer carry one word, where English needs two unrelated ones.
ha-poretz (הַפֹּרֵץ) — "the Breaker"; He who breaches the wall and leads the shut-in people out (Micah 2:13). The root stands there twice: He breaks through before them, and they break through after Him.
harpazō (ἁρπάζω) — "to catch up, to seize away by force"; the verb with which the Child is caught up to God's throne (Revelation 12:5), and with which the living are caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
hetoimazō (ἑτοιμάζω) — "to make ready, to prepare"; the word for the prepared place of the woman (12:6), the Bride made ready (19:7) and the prepared city (21:2; John 14:2); elsewhere in Revelation also for trumpets, horses, angels and the way of the kings (8:6; 9:7, 15; 16:12).
kanaf (כָּנָף) — "wing", but also "skirt, hem of a robe"; the word links the sheltering wing with the spreading of a garment over the bride (Ruth 3:9; Ezekiel 16:8).
katépien (κατέπιεν) — the perfect form "swallowed" (of katapinō); see bala.
ketiv / qere — text-critical terms: the ketiv is what is written in the Hebrew text, the qere what is read aloud. At Isaiah 63:9 the choice decides whether it reads "He was afflicted" or "it was no affliction to Him".
ketubah — the Jewish marriage contract; in the chuppah-reading, the image of the 10 words of Sinai as the terms of the covenant.
loipoi / epiloipoi (λοιποί) — "the rest"; the word for "the rest of her seed" (Revelation 12:17), which reaches back to the "rest" (hoi epiloipoi tōn adelphōn autōn) of Micah 5:3 LXX, where the Hebrew reads "the rest of his brothers" (yeter echav).
manna (מָן) — the bread from heaven in the wilderness; the name comes from the question man hu, "what is that?" (Exodus 16:15). In Hebrew the question and the name stand in the same verse.
marks (the four) — the weighing-marks this book places on every reading: well-documented, weighed, disputed, speculative / framework. See A Note on Method.
midbar (מִדְבָּר) — "wilderness"; the land where nothing grows and where this people meets its God again and again.
miqlat (מִקְלָט) — "refuge, city of refuge"; the city to which a manslayer could flee and stay safe "until the death of the high priest" (Numbers 35).
nesher (נֶשֶׁר) — "eagle"; the image of bearing (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11) and, in other texts, of judgment.
nikaō (νικάω) — "to overcome"; the word of the seven overcomer promises in the letters to the churches (2-3), the last of which is the throne of 3:21. In 12:11 it stands in the perfect tense: they have overcome by the blood of the Lamb.
nus / barach (נוּס / בָּרַח) — two verbs for "to flee": nus can carry "to flee to" a refuge, barach means "to flee away from".
rachef (רָחַף) — "to hover, to brood"; the rare word for the Spirit over the waters (Genesis 1:2) and for the eagle over its young (Deuteronomy 32:11).
Sea of Reeds — the sea that opened before Israel and closed over the Egyptians (Exodus 14–15); the backdrop of the earth that swallows the river.
Shoah — the murder of a third of the Jewish community in the twentieth century; faced in this book at "the time of Jacob's troubleJacob's troubleThe post-abomination tribulation of Matt 24:21 (Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1) — the Judean remnant, the 1,260 days — distinct from the week-wide thlipsis of Rev 7:14." and the refined third part of Zechariah 13.
skēnoō (σκηνόω) — "to tabernacle, to dwell"; four times in Revelation, and each time of God and His people, never of angels: God over the multitude before the throne (7:15), the heavens and those who dwell in them (12:12), those whom the beast blasphemes (13:6), and God with men (21:3).
sukka (סֻכָּה) — "booth, shelter"; the image of God's protecting "booth" over the wilderness (Isaiah 4:5-6), bound up with the Feast of Booths as a remembrance of the wilderness years.
supersessionism (replacement theology) — the teaching that the congregation has replaced Israel; expressly rejected by this book (Romans 11).
Tanakh — the Hebrew Bible, named after its three parts: Torah (law), Nevi'im (prophets) and Ketuvim (writings).
tannin / Leviathan / Rahab (תַּנִּין / לִוְיָתָן / רַהַב) — the sea-dragon, the chaos monster of the ancient texts: tannin is the generic name, Leviathan and Rahab are proper names of the same figure, whom God subdued at the creation and at the Sea of Reeds (Job 26:12-13; Psalm 74:13-14; 89:11; Isaiah 27:1; 51:9).
Textus Receptus (Received Text) — the Greek text (after Scrivener) that this book holds to for the New Testament.
time, times, and half a time — the formula from Daniel (7:25; 12:7) for three and a half years, in Revelation 12:14 concerning the keeping of the woman; equal to the 1,260 days (12:6); the 42 months of the beast (13:5) measure the same three and a half years in the broader unit.
topos / maqom (τόπος / מָקוֹם) — "place"; the prepared place of the woman (Revelation 12:6) and the place the Son makes ready (John 14:2).
trephō (τρέφω) — "to nourish"; the verb used of the woman (12:6, 14), each time so that the nourishing hand stays out of view — the grammar of the manna.
zera / sperma (זֶרַע / σπέρμα) — "seed"; the word that can carry both the collective (the offspring) and the individual (the One) at once (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 3:16; Revelation 12:17).