Abstract

Revelation 11:15 occupies a structural and theological hinge in John’s Apocalypse, yet the verse’s sound has rarely entered the discussion. This article argues that the two cola in Rev 11:15c-d can be heard as an approximate dactylic hexameter and that this epic contour is integral to the verse’s meaning. After sketching basic assumptions about Greek quantitative metre and Koine phonology, the study scans the verse and shows that the first colon forms a mixed but recognisably hexametric line with a pronounced spondaic core on βασιλεία and κόσμος. The second colon is almost entirely spondaic, yielding a slow, heavy cadence for the claim that “he shall reign for ever and ever.” Set against Homeric, Hesiodic and Virgilian uses of hexameter as the metre of foundations and imperial destiny, this pairing places Rev 11:15 within an epic register of origin and legitimacy even as it reverses Rome’s imperium sine fine. At the same time, the acclamation’s language is deeply indebted to Hebrew and Aramaic kingship traditions (Ex 15:18; Pss 93:1-2, 146:10; Dan 7:14), whose accentual rhythms likewise move from decisive act to everlasting stability. The verse thus emerges as a compact instance of “Hebrew theology in Greek metre”: an acoustic transposition in which Israel’s confession of YHWH’s eternal reign is proclaimed in the very sound-code of Greco-Roman epic.