Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city: it was a shameful thing for corpses not to be buried. To translate the Greek literally the street, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation do, may make it appear that this was a city that had only one street. So it may be preferable to translate “the main street” or “the public square,” or “the open places where people gathered.” For great city the translation can be “the famous city” or “the important city.” The writer clearly identifies the city as Jerusalem (where their Lord was crucified). But, as in all other such matters, what the writer has in mind is not a specific geographical location as such but the general role played in sacred history by such places. For the translation of city compare 11.2.

Allegorically called Sodom and Egypt: the adverb allegorically may be represented by “symbolically” (Good News Translation “the symbolic name”); or else, “in figurative language.” Instead of Sodom and Egypt a translation may choose to say “Sodom or Egypt” (Good News Translation, Translator’s New Testament, Bible en français courant, Revised English Bible), to avoid giving the impression that the city was called by a double name.

Where their Lord was crucified: this is a reference to Jesus, the Lord of the two prophets. In languages that do not use the passive, one may translate, for example, “where people crucified (or, hung on a cross) the Lord of these two (prophets).”

It is better not to follow slavishly the order of the Greek text, as Revised Standard Version does. A careless reader may understand that it was Sodom and Egypt where their Lord was crucified. Good News Translation offers another way of ordering the various items of information.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Their dead bodies (or, corpses) will lie in the main street of that important city where people crucified their Lord. People have given that city the symbolic name of Sodom or Egypt.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .