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Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified.
Revelation 11:8 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
  • KJV And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
  • NKJV And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
  • NASB And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
  • NLT And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Their bodies lie in the street of the great city, "spiritually" called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. The world that killed Christ also rejects His witnesses.

Overview

The "great city" is identified symbolically with Sodom (immorality), Egypt (oppression), and Jerusalem (where Christ was crucified)—a composite of the world in its rebellion against God. Leaving the bodies unburied was a profound public disgrace in that culture. The reference to where "their Lord was crucified" ties the witnesses' suffering directly to Christ's. Those who follow Jesus share in the rejection He endured from a hostile world (John 15:18-20).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 36

  • Jer 23:14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
  • Rev 18:10In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
  • Heb 13:12And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood.
  • Ezek 16:53–55But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them.
  • Rev 18:21Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again.
  • 2 Pet 2:6if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
  • Jude 1:7In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
  • Amos 4:11“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
  • Rev 18:18and cry out at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her. “What city was ever like this great city?” they will exclaim.
  • Rev 11:9For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb.
  • Matt 10:15Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
  • Ezek 23:27So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’
  • Ezek 23:3and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.
  • Ezek 23:8She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.
  • Exod 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
  • Isa 1:9–10Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
  • Gen 19:24Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
  • Exod 20:2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
  • Luke 13:33–34Nevertheless, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not admissible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.
  • Gen 13:13But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.
  • Ezek 23:19Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt
  • Isa 3:9The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
  • Rev 16:19The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.
  • Rev 14:8Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
  • Rev 11:13And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
  • Ps 78:43–51when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.
  • Acts 9:4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
  • Rev 18:2And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
  • Heb 6:6and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame.
  • Ps 79:2–3They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
  • Exod 1:13–14They worked the Israelites ruthlessly
  • Jer 26:23They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.
  • Rev 18:24And there was found in her the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who had been slain on the earth.
  • Rev 17:1Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
  • Ezek 37:11Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
  • Rev 17:5And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Revelation videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Revelation 11:8YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RevelationMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.

How Revelation 11:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.