Revelation of John 14:17-20 · Bible study

Revelation 14:17-20 Commentary: The Vintage of God's Wrath

Greek · 10 what the commentators say

Meaning in one sentence

Study the grim imagery of Revelation 14:17-20. Understand the angel's sickle, the winepress of wrath, and the meaning of 1,600 stadia.

Research Summary

Meaning: The gathering and treading of the earth’s vine represents God’s final, complete judgment on the wicked, especially apostate Christendom.
Key words: “Another angel” (G0243, G0032), a distinct messenger; “vine of the earth”, the wicked opposed to Christ; “winepress of the wrath of God”, crushing judgment.
Main debate: Whether the “city” is literal Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, or a symbol for Babylon.
Theological theme: The justice of God, the certainty of judgment, and the vindication of the suffering saints.
Best use: To soberly warn against persistent sin and to comfort the persecuted with the assurance that God will settle all accounts.

Translation Comparison

BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

²⁰And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

WEB World English Bible 2000

¹⁷Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle.

¹⁸Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth’s grapes are fully ripe!”

¹⁹The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

²⁰The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, up to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.

KJV King James Version 1769

¹⁷And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

¹⁸And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

¹⁹And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

²⁰And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

ASV American Standard Version 1901

¹⁷And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

¹⁸And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

¹⁹And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God.

²⁰And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898

¹⁷And another messenger did come forth out of the sanctuary that is in the heaven, having--he also--a sharp sickle,

¹⁸and another messenger did come forth out from the altar, having authority over the fire, and he called with a great cry to him having the sharp sickle, saying, `Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, because come to perfection have her grapes;'

¹⁹and the messenger did put forth his sickle to the earth, and did gather the vine of the earth, and did cast it to the great wine-press of the wrath of God;

²⁰and trodden was the wine-press outside of the city, and blood did come forth out of the wine-press--unto the bridles of the horses, a thousand, six hundred furlongs.

Darby Darby Bible 1890

¹⁷And another angel came out of the temple which [is] in the heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

¹⁸And another angel came out of the altar, having power over fire, and called with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripened.

¹⁹And the angel put his sickle to the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast [the bunches] into the great wine-press of the fury of God;

²⁰and the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood went out of the wine-press to the bits of the horses for a thousand six hundred stadia.

Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899

¹⁷And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

¹⁸And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire. And he cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying: Thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vineyard of the earth, because the grapes thereof are ripe.

¹⁹And the angel thrust in his sharp sickle into the earth and gathered the vineyard of the earth and cast it into the great press of the wrath of God:

²⁰And the press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the press, up to the horses' bridles, for a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

Verse in Context

15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Send your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!”

16 He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle.

18 Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth’s grapes are fully ripe!”

19 The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

20 The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, up to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.

Original Language (Koine Greek)

New Testament · Koine Greek · Revelation of John 14:17

Καὶ Kai G2532 And

ἄλλος allos G0243 another

ἄγγελος angelos G0032 angel

ἐξῆλθεν exēlthen G1831 came

ἐκ ek G1537 out of

τοῦ tou G3588 the

ναοῦ naou G3485 temple

τοῦ tou G3588 <the>

ἐν en G1722 in

τῷ tō G3588 <the>

οὐρανῷ ouranō G3772 heaven

ἔχων echōn G2192 having

καὶ kai G2532 also

αὐτὸς autos G0846 he himself

δρέπανον drepanon G1407 a sickle

ὀξύ.¶ oxu G3691 sharp.

Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.

Scholars' Consensus

Commentators agree that this passage depicts a decisive act of divine judgment, distinct from the harvest of the righteous in the preceding verses. Barnes and the Cambridge Bible note the angel's origin in the temple (naos) signals a commission directly from God's presence. The second angel, coming from the altar with authority over fire (v.18), explicitly connects this judgment to the prayers of the martyrs under the altar in Revelation 6:9-10. The angel is not acting on his own; as Vincent observes, the cry for justice rises from the altar itself. The object of judgment is called the “vine of the earth”, contrasting with the true vine (John 15:1). Jamieson-Fausset-Brown argue the phrase targets the apostate world that had the knowledge of Christ, not the pagan world. The resulting blood, flowing 1,600 stadia to the horses' bridles, is understood as hyperbolic imagery (Clarke, Wesley) signifying both the severity and the totality of God's wrath against unrepentant wickedness.

How settled is the interpretation?

Interpretive difficulty: Medium

Main views:

Futurist / Eschatological: Views the passage as describing the final judgment at the end of the world.
Historicist / Reformation: Identifies the judgment as a specific historical event, such as the fall of papal Rome.
Idealist / Symbolic: Sees the imagery as a timeless symbol of God's justice whenever and wherever it is executed.

What is clear: The passage depicts a decisive, devastating judgment from God on the wicked, fully ripe for punishment, and widely recognized as a symbol of ultimate justice.

What Scholars Agree and Debate

Topic	Agreed	Debated
The source of the judgment	Judgment originates from God in heaven, signaled by the temple setting and the angelic messengers.	Some see the temple as a general symbol of God's presence; others identify it with the heavenly sanctuary where God's law and mercy meet.
The identity of the city	The city is the dwelling place of God's people from which judgment is excluded.	Many commentators (Barnes, Wesley) see it as literal Jerusalem. Others (Gill, Clarke) interpret it as the heavenly Jerusalem or as a symbol for the New Jerusalem. Still others identify it as Babylon.
The 1,600 stadia	The number represents a completed judgment covering a vast area.	Some take it as a symbolic square number (4x4x100) representing the whole world. Others see a literal measurement, such as the 184-mile length of the Holy Land.
The object of judgment	The “vine of the earth” refers to the wicked who are fully ripe for punishment.	Jamieson-Fausset-Brown argue it targets the apostate world of Christendom. Clarke includes pagan Rome. Others simply identify it as all unrepentant humanity.

Historical & Cultural Context

The winepress was a familiar agricultural image in the ancient world. It usually consisted of two vats cut into rock: a higher one where workers trod the grapes, and a lower one where the juice collected. The language of treading the winepress was already loaded with meaning from the Old Testament. Isaiah 63:1-6 depicts God returning from Edom with stained garments, “I have trodden the winepress alone.” Joel 3:13 directly uses the same metaphor now appearing in Revelation: “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full.”

The action happens “outside the city.” For John’s first readers, this would immediately evoke Jerusalem, the holy city. Barnes mentions this is the most natural reading. The blood up to the horses’ bridles is extreme. Clarke cites a Jewish tradition where Hadrian’s army waded in blood in a besieged city. The distance of 1,600 stadia (about 184 miles) has been interpreted in two ways. Clarke notes that early interpreters saw it as the exact length of the patrimony of St. Peter from Rome to the Po, connecting it to judgment on papal Rome. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown describe it as a square number (4 x 4 x 100), symbolizing judgment covering the four corners of the earth. The background is a world where justice was slow, but John’s vision promises a complete, cosmic reckoning.

Textual Notes

The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this passage that alter the meaning. The Greek text is well-established across the critical editions.

Reception History

The imagery of the winepress of God’s wrath has been a powerful, sobering motif throughout church history. In the early church, the passage was often read as an allegory of the final judgment at Christ’s return. During the Reformation, many Protestant commentators (including Brightman, as cited by Gill) identified the judgment with the downfall of the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy, interpreting the 1,600 stadia as the boundary of the Papal States. This idea is also reflected in Clarke’s commentary. In the Wesleyan tradition, Wesley himself saw the judgment as the treading of the winepress by the Son of God at the end of the age. The passage has also been influential in Christian hymnody, providing the language of judgment in songs like “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and various hymns about the wrath of the Lamb.

Preaching This Verse

Three-point outline

The Setting of Judgment: The angels proceed from the heavenly temple and the altar, judgment flows from the dwelling place and the holiness of God.
The Symbol of Judgment: The vintage is gathered not for celebration but for destruction, as the fully ripe grapes of earth are cast into the “winepress of the wrath of God.”
The Scope of Judgment: The image of blood to the bridles over 1,600 stadia imagery of totality and completeness. No corner of rebellion escapes God’s final justice.

Five-point outline

The Divine Commission (v.17): An angel with a sharp sickle comes from the temple. The presence of God commissions the judgment.
The Angelic Authority (v.18): A second angel, with power over fire, comes from the altar. This connects judgment to the cries of the martyrs for justice.
The Gathering of the Vine (v.18-19): The earth’s grapes are fully ripe. The angel gathers them, not a harvest of souls, but a gathering for wrath.
The Treading of the Winepress (v.19-20a): The winepress is trodden “outside the city,” setting the judgment apart from the community of the redeemed.
The Extent of the Judgment (v.20b): Blood flows 1,600 stadia, deep as a horse’s bridle. This is a terrifying picture of a judgment that is both thorough and complete.

Illustration hooks

The ripe harvest: Every farmer knows what happens if you leave perfect fruit on the vine too long, it begins to rot. The “fully ripe” grapes signify that the world’s wickedness has reached its full measure, and the time for judgment has come.
The crushing press: A winepress is not a gentle process. The beauty of the grape is destroyed in order to separate the juice from the skin. The image of the winepress of God’s wrath reminds us that sin must be crushed, not just forgiven.
The boundary line: 1,600 stadia is a specific, large distance. It shows that the judgment has a limit and a boundary, but it is also vast. Sin accumulates, but judgment has a defined and complete reach.

Questions your congregation is asking

Why does God’s wrath seem so violent here? How do we reconcile this with a God of love?
Is this passage about the end of the world or a specific judgment on a historical power?
If this judgment is so severe, what hope is there for anyone to escape it?

Leading a Discussion

This passage presents a picture of final judgment that is hard to look at directly. But it becomes clearer when we see it as the culmination of the prayers of the saints and the justice of God. The vine of the earth is gathered for destruction. These questions are meant to help your group understand why this image matters for hope and holy living.

Discussion questions

Read verses 17-20. The first angel comes from the temple, the second from the altar. What do these two locations say about the source of this judgment?
In verse 18, the angel has “power over fire.” How does this connect back to Revelation 6:9-10 and the prayers of the martyrs?
The object of the judgment is called the “vine of the earth.” How does this contrast with Jesus as the true vine in John 15:1?
The winepress is trodden “outside the city.” Why do you think the judgment is executed outside, and what does “the city” represent here?
The blood is said to rise to the horses’ bridles for 1,600 stadia. Is this meant to be taken literally? What do commentators say about the meaning of these numbers?
How does the specific location of the angel (from the altar) and the command shape your understanding of who is addressed in this judgment?
This passage is grim. What hope does it offer to believers who are suffering or crying out for justice?

What the Commentators Say

8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.

Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826

Clarke highlights the hyperbole in blood reaching the horse bridles, an ancient exaggeration for immense slaughter. He also notes a striking coincidence: the sixteen hundred furlongs equals the distance from Rome to the Po, a church territory. He then endorses Quesnel's solemn application of these judgments as a warning to live in holy fear of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832

Barnes highlights that this angelic judgment scene is meant to comfort the church by guaranteeing the complete destruction of all its enemies. He ties the imagery of the winepress to Isaiah’s prophecy, stressing that the blood flowing even to the horses’ bridles symbolizes a final, overwhelming divine victory that secures the believer’s ultimate safety.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880

The commentator identifies the angel with power over fire not as a generic elemental spirit, but as the altar angel also seen in Revelation 8, who appears in rabbinical writings. The city in view is likely Jerusalem, and the vast blood flow, measured as high as a horse's bridle and extending 1600 furlongs, is a literal figure for the scale of judgment.

Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748

Gill identifies the angel as Christ himself, not a saint or ministering spirit. This angel comes from the temple in heaven to execute final judgment, gathering the wicked for destruction at the end of the world. The vintage imagery pictures God's wrath poured out on the ungodly.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871

JFB stresses that this judgment targets not the pagan world but apostate Christendom, those who knew God's care yet produced wild grapes. The bloodshed described is literal slaughter on earth, not eternal punishment, and the scene is Jerusalem, where Christ and His people suffered.

Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710

Henry stresses that this vision comes directly from heaven, not from human imagination, making it absolutely certain and authoritative. It was recorded in writing so God's people could always return to it for comfort and strength.

Vincent's Word Studies Evangelical 1887

Vincent focuses on the original Greek vocabulary, noting that key words like "temple" (naos, sanctuary) and "wine-press" carry specific meanings he clarifies through etymology. He highlights rare terms, such as "fully ripe" (akmason) appearing only here in the New Testament, and explains grammatical oddities like the masculine adjective paired with a feminine noun.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754

Wesley identifies the city as Jerusalem, which St. John's original readers would have immediately understood. He notes that the winepress is trodden by the Son of God, and the resulting blood flows deep enough to reach horses' bridles and spreads two hundred miles throughout Palestine.

Word Study

The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.

ἄγγελος angelos angel G0032 · Greek → ἄλλος allos another G0243 · Greek → αὐτός autos it/s/he G0846 · Greek → δρέπανον drepanon sickle G1407 · Greek → ἐκ ek out from G1537 · Greek → ἐν en in/on/among G1722 · Greek → ἐξέρχομαι exerchomai to go out G1831 · Greek → ἔχω echō to have/be G2192 · Greek → καί kai and G2532 · Greek → ναός naos temple G3485 · Greek → ὁ ho the/this/who G3588 · Greek → ὀξύς oxus sharp/swift G3691 · Greek → οὐρανός ouranos heaven G3772 · Greek →

Cross-References

Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)

Revelation of John 14:14	I looked, and saw a white cloud, and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
Revelation of John 14:15	Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Send your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!”
Revelation of John 15:5	After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.
Revelation of John 15:6	The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out, clothed with pure, bright linen, and wearing golden sashes around their chests.
Revelation of John 16:1	I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!”
Joel 3:13	Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
Revelation of John 6:9	When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had.
Revelation of John 6:10	They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.

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