This rather strange command is explained by the fact that the End will come soon, and there is no time left for people to change their way of living. This situation can be clearly expressed by beginning the verse “In the meantime” or “Meanwhile.”

Let: this is the way of expressing a third-person command in English. “Those who are evil are to go on being evil.” Or it can be stated as a concession, “And so, the person who is evil may keep on doing evil” (see Dan 12.10, for a parallel).

The parallel pairs are not meant to describe two different kinds of bad people (evildoers and filthy) and two different kinds of good people (righteous and holy). Rather, this is an emphatic way of contrasting the bad and the good. The noun evildoer translates the Greek present participle of the verb “to do evil,” and do evil translates the aorist imperative of the same verb. For its use in the sense of “harm,” “injure,” “wound,” see 2.11; 9.10, 19.

Filthy: this is used in a moral and spiritual sense, not a physical sense; “immoral,” “corrupt,” “sinful.” The Greek adjective is used also in James 2.2 in a literal sense, of “shabby” clothing; the Greek verb is used only here in the New Testament. Other ways of saying this are: “minds (or, hearts) dirty from immorality” or “people who do filthy or immoral practices.”

The righteous still do right: “whoever is righteous (or, good) must keep on doing what is right.” For the adjective righteous see “just” in 15.3; 16.5; for the noun right (or, “righteousness”) see 19.11.

The holy still be holy: for the holy see comments on “saints” in 5.8; the verb “to be holy” occurs only here in Revelation. The idea may be the primary one of being dedicated to God, belonging exclusively to God. So Barclay translates “the man who is dedicated to God must continue in his dedication”; or holy may have here the idea of spiritual purity, of being free from sin. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “Whoever is holy must keep on sanctifying himself”; in the context this may be the meaning intended, or one may express this clause as “whoever is holy must refrain from doing evil” or “whoever does not sin must remain free from sin.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• And so all people who do evil must (or, should) keep on doing evil, and all those who practice immorality must continue doing filthy immoral things. And all those who do good must continue doing what is right, and all who are holy must refrain from doing evil.”

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 .