Drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: for saints see 5.8. As is often the case in this book, the second group, the martyrs, more precisely defines the first group, the saints: “drunk with the blood of God’s people, that is, those who had died for their faithfulness to Jesus.” Here the word ordinarily translated “witness” may mean “martyr,” inasmuch as the figure “the blood of” clearly indicates they have been killed. This is how New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Phillips, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, and Good News Translation translate it. Some translations, however, prefer “witnesses to Jesus” (New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Revised, Translator’s New Testament) or “who bore testimony to Jesus” (New International Version, Revised English Bible). In either case the figure the blood of shows that these “witnesses” or martyrs had been killed because of their Christian faith. (See Antipas in 2.13; and see 6.9.) Other ways of translating this first sentence, then, are the following:

• And I saw (or, noticed) that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s people, the ones whom people had killed because they were faithful to (or, faithfully followed) Jesus.

Or:

• And I saw that the woman had drunk the blood of God’s people, those who were killed because they were faithful to Jesus. This had made her drunk (or, intoxicated).

I marveled greatly: this translates the Greek “I marveled a great marvel,” which can be expressed by “I was greatly astonished,” “I was very surprised.” For comments on the verb “to marvel” see 13.3.

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 .