Unfulfilled Revelation › Figures

Two Witnesses

Two prophets clothed in sackcloth; prophesy 1,260 days; fire from mouth; power to shut heaven, turn water to blood, smite the earth; slain by the Beast; resurrected after 3.5 days; caught up to heaven.

Key Hebrew Terms

נָבִיא (navi, H5030); שַׂק (sak, H8242); יָמִים (yamim, H3117); הָעִד (ha-ed, H5749)

Key Greek Terms

μάρτυς (martys, G3144); προφητεύω (prophetevo, G4395); ἡμέρα (hemera, G2250); ἀναστάσις (anastasis, G386)

Linked Verses (25)

Zechariah 4:1 source
KJV

And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Zechariah 4:2 source
KJV

And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

Zechariah 4:3 source
KJV

And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

Zechariah 4:4 source
KJV

So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?

Zechariah 4:5 source
KJV

Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

Zechariah 4:6 source
KJV

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah 4:7 source
KJV

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Zechariah 4:8 source
KJV

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Zechariah 4:9 source
KJV

The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.

KJV

For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

KJV

Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

KJV

And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

KJV

And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

KJV

Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.

Malachi 4:5 source
KJV

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

KJV

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

KJV

These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

KJV

And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

KJV

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

KJV

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

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.

KJV

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

KJV

And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

KJV

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

KJV

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

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Church Fathers

Hippolytus (On the Antichrist 43, 46-47) identifies the Two Witnesses as Enoch and Elijah, a reading that dominates early patristic interpretation and persists into medieval Latin theology (later Aquinas, Summa III Suppl. Q.77). Tertullian (On the Soul 50) uses the non-death of Enoch and Elijah to argue they are reserved to testify at the end. A minority (Origen, tentatively in his Matthew commentary) considered Moses and Elijah, reading the fire-from-mouth imagery as Mosaic. Irenaeus does not name them explicitly but affirms literal bodily witnesses.