The Revelation of John completes the most read and published book in literary history, The Bible. Question Alexa about the “Book of Revelation”, the artificial intelligence reveals over 158 million online references and sources. Why the popularity of the Bible and specifically Revelation? Is it possible people of faith find deep connection with Revelation’s hope in seasons of chaos?

John, Revelation’s scribe, delivers courage to the first century Christian community. Pandemics, corrupt politics, and a culture normalized with porn assaulted the churches of Asia Minor. The message seems clear…Creator God loves the creation compassionately bringing hope and light to global trauma.

Revelation also serves as bookend to the Book of Genesis. Chapters 21-22 of Revelation tie perfectly to the opening prologue of Genesis forming a literary inclusio. This device called the inclusio alerted ancient readers to a complete section of literature much like paragraphs assist modern students.

In the Book of Genesis Creator-God crafts a beautiful world for humanity…the same Maker with precise images illumines Revelation’s world of plagues and politics with the light of the Lamb, Jesus. These majestic scenes burn away corrupt politics with God’s justice. (Revelation 19:11)  In this new end time regime tears of grief relinquish as suffering ceases. The closing words reveal only sexual health exists between compassionate Creator and beloved creation. 

Revelation is also known for powerful images. The Beast identifies by the infamous 666, pandemics and global holocaust threaten,  politicians plunder, and over 70% of the seven churches addressed in Revelation have normalized porn. 

For the first time in the 2000 years of literary Biblical-history the porn passages of Revelation are addressed.  Porn played a major economic role in the first century. A similar sexualized culture exists today among people of faith. Porn is the primary sexual educator of faith based children. Could the widespread normalization of porn be another indication Christians may be in the “end times” Revelation describes?

The English word “porn” comes from the Greek root, pernemi, pronounced PAIR-nay-mee,meaning the coercive trafficking of humans for sex. (Strong, G4203) The Greek root pornappears in four forms within the Book of Revelation: the verb porneuo, pronounced par-NEW-oh, the feminine noun porneia, par-NAY-ah, the masculine nounpornos, PAR-nos,used for male sex trade participants, and the female gender counterpart, porne, pronounced PAR-nay.

The Revelation’s use of the pornword group is very specific. Porncarries the weight of active participation in the economy (which I call the sexeconomy) of the religious or sacred sex trade. No evidence supports the pornword group to mean intercourse between consenting adults as some translators mistakenly proposed. Porn is specific to the coercive economy of trafficking humans for sexual intercourse. This sexeconomy is only described in sacred religious contexts within Revelation.

The Book of Revelation features the root word for the modern term pornography, meaning a written record or depiction of the sex trade. The porn root appears in four ways:

The verb porneuo, “acting out in the sacred sex trade”

The feminine noun, porneia, “the sacred sex trade”

The masculine noun, pornos, meaning a male sacred sex trade worker

The feminine noun, porne, translated as a female sacred sex trade worker.

The porn word group weaves through 13 distinct sexual health terms and images in the Book of Revelation. The sexual health vocabulary in the final book of the Bible in order of appearance are:

Jesus 1:1

Nicolaitans 2:6

Balaam 2:14

Balak 2:14

Porneuo 2:14

Jezebel 2:20

Adultery 2:22

Shameful Nakedness 3:18

Pregnant and Give Birth 

Defile 14:4

Abominable 17:4

Filth 17:4

Bridegroom 18:23

The Sacred Sex Trade: Porn

The sacred sex trade formed a major economic component of ancient Near Eastern culture. In the Sumerian era 1750 BCE religious institutions staffed priests, attendants, and artists with sacred sex trade workers in places of worship. The purpose of the sex workers connected the worshipers to deities through intercourse. The sacred sex trade provided a, “substantial part of the temple’s income” (Tannehill, 1980, p. 79). The business of the sacred sex trade sexeconomy, provided great profit to religious institutions. One sex worker named Metiche, earned the call sign, Clepsydra, or stop watch, for timing the length of customer intercourse so she could streamline her clients for greater income (Tannehill, 1980, p. 100). Herodotus, the Greek historian, reported the coercive nature of the sex trade, 

Every woman who is a native of the country must once in her life go and sit in the temple and there give herself to a strange man….she is not allowed to go home until a man has thrown a silver coin into her lap and taken her outside to lie with him. …The woman has no privilege of choice-she must go with the first man who throws her the money. When she has lain with him, her duty to the goddess has been discharged and she may go home…. Tall handsome women soon manage to get home again but the ugly ones stay a long time before they can fulfill the condition which the law demands, some of them indeed as much as three or four years. (p. 80). 

Sacred sex workers classified in three groups. The harimtu, connected to the word harem, may have been a semi secular sex worker. The qadishtu, a sacred sex worker, reflects the Greek narrative of Herodotus. This term also connects to the Hebrew term, qa-DESH, which means holy or sacred used not only of God, but also male and female sex trade workers. (Strong, H6942) The ishtaritu were dedicated sex workers for the goddess Ishtar (Tannehill, 1980, p. 80). A Babylonian father wrote to advise his son, “Never take a harimtu to wife, her husbands are beyond counting; nor an Istaritu, she is reserved for the gods” (p. 80). Sexual politics also forced women into the sex trade.  A concubine did not have the independence of a hetaira, nor legal protection of a wife, and if she displeased her master, she could be sold to a brothel (Tannehill, 1980, p. 104). The sacred sex trade offered survival, not choice. I find it interesting that a coercive industry like the trafficking of humans for sex could find normalization in numerous cultures across the mediterranean much like the current era. Trafficking humans against their will for sex was acceptable practice for ancient man legitimized by local religions. Is this still the case?

According to Tannehill (1980) caregivers may have trafficked their own children into the sacred sex trade. The sex trade offered a less expensive way to transition a female child into adulthood rather than paying a dowry. The harimtu appear to have been formely married women who left their husbands and had no other recourse than intercourse within the sacred sex trade.

The sacred sex trade trafficked its workers like commodities. The Old Testament prophet in Joel 3:3 written between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE states, “They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink.” The sexeconomy of trafficking humans firmly established itself in the ancient Near East. Economic prosperity was encouraged by exchanging money for sexual intercourse with temple workers. The religious institutions and its hierarchies most likely became very wealthy. 

The Old Testament Use of Porneuo

The Septuagint (LXX) is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. The LXX uses the verb, porneuo, 18 times in 18 verses. (BLB, Strong G4203) Porneuo connects directly to religious idolatry four times. (Deuteronomy 23:17; Ezekiel 6:9; Hosea 4:10,14) These four passages speak to the people of Israel about participation in the sacred sex trade of local religious shrines. Jeremiah and Ezekiel use porneuo for the faithlessness of Israel and Jeremiah establishes legal grounds for divorce using porneuo. Jesus makes this same connection to divorce stating the deal breaker for New Testament marriage is participation in the sacred sex trade in Matthew 5:32. Jesus does not use the term, adultery, as grounds for divorce in this conversation. Christ uses the word, porneia, acting out in the sacred sex trade.Amos prophesies that the destruction of Israel will bring the forcible sale of Jewish women into the sex trade.  

The New Testament Use of Porneuo

Porneuo, the verb meaning to act out in the sacred sex trade, appears 8 times in 7 verses within the New Testament. (BLB, Strong, G4203) Revelation uses the verb five times and Paul three. Jesus uses the feminine noun but does not use the verb, porneuo, within the Gospels. Paul uses porneuo in specific religious-idolatry contexts. (1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:8) 

In 1 Corinthians 6:18 Paul the Apostle uses the noun and the verb when he says, “Flee from sexual immorality (acting out in the sacred sex trade, porneia) every sin which a man may commit is outside his body, but whoever sins sexually, (participle from porneuo), sins against his own body.” In 1 Corinthians10:8 Paul uses the porneuo verb form when he states, “We should not commit sexual immorality (porneuo, as some of them did (porneuo)—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.”

Translators used the words sexual immorality, fornication, or lewd acts rather than sacred sex trade. Young’s Literal Translation used the term “whoredom” coming closest to the original use. Could this be intentional blending of all unhealthy sexuality meanings in this one term? (BLB, I Corinthians 10:8) The Old Testament translators from Hebrew to English followed closely the original meanings of the terms, but not so the New Testament Greek to English editors. The following porn terms, porneia and pornos, have been edited by translators unfairly and without merit as I will illustrate.

Porneia

The feminine noun porneia meaning  “the sacred sex trade” appears 25 times in 24 verses in the Morphological Greek New Testament (MGNT) Greek text. (Strong, G4202) John begins with Revelation 2:21 speaking to a female false prophet coercing her congregation to engage in the sacred sex trade. Five references connect to Babylon as the global sacred sex trade image. This term for a sacred sex trade worker occurs exactly seven times in Revelation. Perhaps the author strategically uses seven for the idea of “complete or comprehensive” immersion in the sex trade? Could this mean a cultural normalizing of porn?  (Revelation: 2:21; 9:21; 14:8; 17:2,4; 18:3; 19:2) As the term porneia is examined carefully, the word only connects to the sacred sex trade in the book of Revelation. Historic reference materials have mistakingly translated the word porneia as consensual sexual intercourse which is never the case in Revelation.

Porneia and Pornos may be two of the most mistranslated words in the New Testament. Of the 25 times the term Porneia is used, not once is porneia corrected translated as “the sacred sex trade” in the NIV. The usage is:

Sexual Immorality-16 times

Illegitimate-1 time

Immorality-1 time

Adultery-5 times

Pornos, meaning a male sacred sex trade worker appears 10 times in the Morphological Greek New Testament. The Greek to English translators never use the correct meaning. The uses are:

Sexually Immoral-8 times

Immoral- 2 times

This may mean that translators intentionally edited this word to include all unhealthy sexuality or immorality into the term. The strange paradox is that editors correctly translated female sex trade worker for porne, but completely missed the meaning for male sex trade worker.  This very well may be an example of sexual politics reflected by the editors. Pornos appears twice in Revelation at 21:8; 22:15.  The chapters 21 and 22 citations affirm that unhealthy sexuality cannot exist in the post apocalyptic new world. Unhealthy sexuality is defined clearly as one who engages in the coercive sexeconomy of the sacred sex trade. (Strong, G4205) Pornos does not appear in the Greek translation (LXX) of the Hebrew  Old Testament at any place.

The admonition of John the Revelator in Revelation 22:18-19 articulates concern for those who revere the integrity of The Bible. 

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.

And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

Could the current plague of unhealthy sexuality among Evangelical leadership connect to this prophecy in John 22:18-19?  Did the translators of the NIV in trying to do a good thing in their mind actually undermine the sexual health of our leadership and families by intentional editing of Scripture according to their own sexual politics?

Porne

Porne, the term for a female sacred sex trade worker appears 12 times in 12 verses of the New Testament. Porne occurs five times in the Book of Revelation. (Revelation: 17:1,5,15,16; 19:2)  Four of the five references appear in chapter 17 focusing on a female sacred sex trade figure most likely representing a political regime which John calls, “Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots….” The chapter 19:2 citation reviews the just judgement against the sex trade for violent acts.

Porne occurs 37 times in 35 verse in the LXX Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, G4204) Please see the appendix for a full listing of the data.

Old Testament Term for Male Sex Trade Worker

Male sacred sex trade workeroccurs 6 times in 6 verses  of the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) Hebrew Old Testament. The word is spelled the same as the Hebrew term for “Holy” indicating the sacred or religious nature of the word.

Deuteronomy 23:17 states, “No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.” (The terms used here are Ka-de-SHA, female holy sex trade worker, and ka-DESH, male sex trade worker.)

1 Kings 14:24: There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

1 Kings 15:12: He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made.

1 Kings 22:46: He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa.

2 Kings 23:7: He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the LORD, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

Job 36:14: They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.

Revelation Sexual Health Vocabulary and Images in Order of Appearance

Jesus

The first sexual health image in Revelation is the name, Jesus, appearing 13 times in Revelation. (Revelation 1:1) Single, sexually sober, and without sex scandal Jesus is the focal point of sexual health. Intimacy with God through a spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate, regulating, and reconciling relationship with Christ is at core the nature of the Christian faith.  Sexual health flows from this connection with God.  Note the final sexual health images of Revelation 18:23 are the bridegroom Jesus, and the bride, His church. This too may form an inclusio with the opening verse of Revelation 1:1 connecting to Jesus, the bridegroom.

Nicolaitans

Three images appear with the first mention of the word group for porn, porneuo, the verb which means to act out in the sacred sex trade. The images are Nicolaitans, Balaam, and Jezebel. The first image is Nicolaitans in Revelation 2:6: 

But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

The Nicolaitans unhealthy sexuality image has unclear origins.  Numerous church writers have reflected on who may have originated this image.  Some cite Nicolaus the deacon of the church of Jerusalem, still others see Nicolaitans as a general metaphor for coercive sexuality and seduction. Most authors agree that Nicolaitans connects to acting out in the sacred sex trade for the profit of religious institutions. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaism)

The Christian community of Revelation lived within the worship culture of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the Dionysian Mystery cults. These religious institutions used trance inducing drugs to lower sexual inhibitions and at the same time funded the religious institutions promoting them.  

Balaam and Balak

The second sexual health image is Balaam. An infamous Old Testament character, Balaam coerced the Israelites into the sacred sex trade of Numbers 25:1-2. 

While Israel was staying in Shittim, (pronounced shi-TEEM) the men began (HLL) to indulge in sexual immorality (porneuo) with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.

The word “began” in verse 1 is the Hebrew term HLL which is a trigger word indicating the decline to unhealthy sexuality. Please see Genesis for a full treatment of the term HLL indicating a decline of culture and specifically the decline to unhealthy sexuality.

Revelation 2:14: Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. (The verb porneuo , “acting out in the sacred sex trade”)

Jezebel

The next unhealthy well cited sexuality image is Jezebel. Her name appears 20 times in 18 verses of the NIV. She brought the worship of Baal and Astarte into the royal marriage with King Ahab in the 9th century B.C. She introduced the sexeconomy of the  sacred sex trade to Judah as well as into the Northern Kingdom. 

Revelation 2:20: Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality (The verb porneuo , “acting out in the sacred sex trade”) and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Strong, G4203)

Adultery

Not only is Jezebel responsible for acting out in support of the sexeconomy of the sex trade she consents to adultery with married men or women. Jezebel does not fare well in John’s rebuke. He states, “So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.” (Revelation 2:22) The term adultery means consensual intercourse between married persons. The word fornication connects to consensual sexual intercourse without the covenant of marriage. Adultery and fornication are distinct sexual behaviors which may not include the sexeconomy of the sex trade.

Adultery appears 15 times in 12 verses of the MGNT. (Strong, G3431) The Greek word is  pronounced moy-CHEUO. The CH sounds like a hard Q rather than the soft sound of “chew”. The Greek use of the term adultery in the Old Testament occurs 11 times in 8 verses. The Old Testament Greek use clearly distinguishes consensual adultery and the nonconsensual trafficking of the sex trade. Adultery and acting out in the sacred sex trade differ. Adultery is an act of mutual consent and passion between married partners. The sacred sex trade coercively traffics humans for financial gain. The Biblical references for adultery sometimes use the term synonymously for the sacred sex trade, but this may be literary device and is does not appear to be substance.  The sacred sex trade makes no case for mutuality of sexual intercourse. The payer for the temple ritual subordinates the payee in this case the male pornos or female porne. 

Ezekiel and Hosea reflect the differences of sex trafficking and consensual intercourse. Ezekiel shows a distinction between adultery and the sex trade. Hosea appears to use adultery as literary device to avoid repetitious vocabulary or perhaps Hosea is using articulate language to describe unhealthy sexuality.

Ezekiel 23:43: Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’

Hosea 4:13: They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

Revelation 2:22: So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery (to commit adultery with, to have unlawful  consensual intercourse with another’s wife) with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. (Strong, G3431) 

The term adultery appears 11 times in 8 verses of the LXX, Greek Old Testament. Three of the references specifically connect to unlawful consensual intercourse and not the sacred sex trade (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; and Deuteronomy 5:18). Jeremiah combines the meanings of the non consensual sex trade and consensual adultery in Jeremiah 3:9. Ezekiel 23:43 makes the distinction that a fatigued adulterer may become a for pay sacred sex trade worker. Hosea uses the term adultery three times in the LXX making a distinction between the sex trade and unlawful intercourse (Hosea 4:13-14; 7:4).

Shameful Nakedness 

Shameful nakedness appears in Revelation 3:18 and Revelation 16:15. Nakedness and shame most likely connect to Genesis 2:25. 

“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Sexual health at creation in Genesis presents no shame. Human sexuality is fully present and without fear.  

Revelation 3:18: I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful (Strong, G132) nakedness (Strong, G1132); and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Revelation 16:15: “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked (Strong, G1131) and be shamefully (Strong, G808) exposed.”

Among therapists, it is understood that the underlying driver of addiction and problematic sexuality is shame.  The Bible is clear from Genesis to Revelation that shame is loss of intimacy with God or a partner in relationship.  So, rather than compelling clients and faith community to “just say no” or abstain from pornography for which there exists no meaningful treatment results, the approach of Jesus may be more effective. He reflected the healing grace to speak truth without shame. (John 4:1-42 and John 8:1-11) Paul’s sexual health conversation of Roman’s 7 is climaxed by the declaration of Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus….” Intimacy with God mitigates shame.

Pregnant and Give Birth

Pregnant occurs 9 times in 9 verses and give birth appears 18 times in 17 verses of the MGNT.  The words are translated in an accurate manner consistent with Biblical usage. One interesting side  bar however is Titus 1:12 when Paul states,  “One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” The word lazy gluttons is the same term for pregnant.  

Defile

The word defile, pronounced ma-LEW-no, appears 3 times in the New Testament with two of the occurrences in Revelation. The term always connects to idolatry and unhealthy sexuality.  The term means pollute, stain, soil, contaminate, or defile. (Strong, G3435)

1 Corinthians 8:7: But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

Revelation 3:4: Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.

Revelation 14:4: These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb.=

Abominable, Filth, and Porne

The noun for a female sex trade worker appears next in concert with two other unhealthy sexuality terms. Please see the porn word group conversation in the introduction for detail on porne, female sacred sex trade worker. Revelation 17:4 is helpful to assist in distinguishing the meanings of three sexual health terms; abominable things, filth, and adulteries.

Abominable appears 6 times in 6 verses of the MGNT and is pronounced ba-DE-loogma. Abominable connects clearly to the desecration of holy sites with idolatry. The term carries the nuance of stench and loathing. 

Revelation 17:4: The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things (Strong, G946) and the filth (Strong, G169) of her adulteries (Strong, G4204).

The second unhealthy sexuality term is filth, pronounced a-KA-thar-tos meaning unclean. (Strong, G169) If something or someone contradicted Levitical law it was considered unclean and required ceremonial purification. The word unclean appears 32 times in 30 verses of the MGNT and 152 times in 123 verses of the LXX Greek Old Testament. 

Bridegroom and Bride

The final sexual health image connects to bridegroom and bride.  These terms are exclusively connected to Christ and His church in the New Testament and reflect only sexual health. In fact the Gospels and Revelation are the only books using the terms bridegroom and bride in the New Testament.  

Revelation 18:23: The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom (Strong, G3566) and bride (Strong, G3565)will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.

Summary

The Book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible, reprises exact images as the premier Book of Genesis at Creation. Intimacy with God in both works is spiritual, beautiful, pleasurable, compassionate in presence, regulates fear, is sexually healthy, and reconciles relationships. Could it be that this spiritual connection with God has been at the core of attending to addiction, idolatry, and specifically pornography for over 3500 years? 

Four terms form a word group based on the Greek root, porn, occurring 19 times in the Book of Revelation. Porneuo means to act out in the sacred sex trade, porneia is the noun for sacred sex trade, porne is the noun for female sex trade worker, and pornos is the term for male sex trade worker. 

The first century church was immersed in the ancient Near Eastern sex trade. Cultures across the Mediterranean normalized the coercive trafficking of humans for sex.  5 of the 7 churches specifically address the sacred sex trade, porn, within their congregations. Porneia, the noun, appears precisely seven times in Revelation which may indicate the complete entanglement of the sex trade in the first century Christian community. Currently, up to 74% of males and 41% of females regularly view porn according to recent studies. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41443-020-00380-w 

71% of the churches of Revelation were counseled specifically about the root word for porn.  

This data may show that post modern Christian communities have similar connections to porn as the first century church. Could it be that the same focus of Revelation can be helpful for Christians of this era?  

The central message of Revelation is intimacy with God through Christ who stands with the people He loves through pandemics, corrupt politics, and a culture normalizing the trafficking of humans for sex. Perhaps this is helpful for current immersion in porn? The opening message to the church in Revelation is the renewal of intimacy with God, restoring first love.  (Revelation 2:4)

After this emotive plea to restore intimacy with God, seven narratives of worship appear. (1:17;4:1-11;5:1-14; 7:11;11:16; 14:3;19:1-8)  John, Revelation’s scribe, begins the worship scenes “…in the spirit, on the Lord’s day.” John sees Jesus. (Revelation 1:1-17)  (1:17;4:10;5:1-14; 7:11;11:16; 14:3;19:1-8) In Revelation chapter 4:1-11 a worship scene identical to Isaiah 6 reveals divine beings surrendering themselves to the one “who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever.” Interludes among these scenes are plagues, the rising of political regimes followed by their demise, and a sexualized economy steeped in religion. It appears the Revelation treatment plan for pandemic terror, political injustice, and porn is the same…intimacy with God reflected in a beautiful, pleasurable, compassionately present, regulating, sexually healthy, and reconciling spirituality.