Source library
Read source passages and their interpretations here, or browse the full bibliography for additional works.
395 works with text on Rainbow Watch
Joseph Benson
Interprets the celestial imagery and coming of the Son of Man through Jerusalem's destruction and the collapse of its religious and civil order.
Text available here
Benson: the signs describe Jerusalem’s destruction · commentary →
Bible Hub English transcription of Commentary of the Old and New Testaments; exact print edition requires collation.
Matthew 24:29-31
John Calvin
Reads the passage as the kingdom’s full manifestation after the Church’s tribulations, rejecting restriction of those tribulations to Jerusalem.
Text available here
Calvin places the signs after the Church’s trials · commentary →
Bible Hub historical English translation, with French footnotes; translator and print impression require title-page verification before extraction.
Harmony section Matthew 24:29–31 / Mark 13:24–27 / Luke 21:25–28
Hippolytus
Hippolytus’s early third-century commentary on Daniel, known in English through fragments translated in the Ante-Nicene Fathers. It reads the image and beasts of Daniel as successive empires and counts six thousand years from Adam to the end.
Text available here
Hippolytus: a bishop in Pontus foretells the judgment within a year →
Hippolytus: 500 years from Christ’s birth to the end · commentary →
Hippolytus: 500 years from Christ’s birth to the end · commentary →
S. D. F. Salmond translation, Ante-Nicene Fathers V (1886)
Fragments on Daniel II, sections 3–7
Victorinus of Pettau (attributed; recension requires study)
Identifies forty-two months with three and a half years and discusses the identities of two witnesses. Recensional lineage remains uncollated.
Text available here
Victorinus identifies the two witnesses · commentary →
Source. Translated by Robert Ernest Wallis. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) New Advent revised web edition.
Exposition of Revelation 11
Moses Maimonides
Separates messianic political restoration from ultimate world-to-come, reads ready-made bread imagery figuratively, predicts Messiah's death and descendants, and forbids fixing dates. Requires Davidic/Solomonic dynasty and rejects Torah abrogation.
Text available here
The messianic kingdom and the world to come · commentary →
J. Abelson1906, Maimonides on the Jewish Creed, Wikisource transcription based on Holtzer1901 Judeo-Arabic/Hebrew edition
Introduction to Sanhedrin10, critique of five popular opinions, days of Messiah discussion, principles9 and12–13
Abdu'l-Baha; provisional translation and commentary by Moojan Momen
Retains an outward Byzantine-Persian prediction while offering multiple spiritual senses involving revelation, divine law and resurrection.
Text available here
Abdu’l-Bahá on the many meanings of Qur’an 30 · commentary →
The Arabic witnesses · commentary →
Outward history and meanings within meanings · commentary →
Moojan Momen, Lights of Irfan 2 (2001), pp. 99–117, author-hosted HTML
Makatib Abdu'l-Baha I, pp. 62–102; translation opening through numbered interpretations 1–9 (to p. 85); Momen introduction
John Calvin; English translation John Owen
John Calvin interprets the prophetic books of Zechariah and Malachi. In the selected commentary on Malachi 4:5, he identifies John the Baptist as the promised Elijah and explains their shared role in restoring religious worship.
Text available here
Calvin identifies John the Baptist as the promised Elijah · commentary →
John Calvin; John Owen translation, Calvin Translation Society (1849), commentary on Malachi4:5. CCEL transcription. Three consecutive paragraphs beginning But Christ himself through transferred to him; reference-link formatting removed.
Commentary on Malachi4:5; selected three paragraphs
Dositheos of Jerusalem and synodal signatories
Distinguishes an incomplete intermediate state from bodily resurrection and completed judgment. Describes release of some repentant departed through prayer before the common resurrection, with the time unknown.
Text available here
Who signed the Jerusalem confession? · commentary →
Related doctrine: Synod of Jerusalem on resurrection · commentary →
English web transcription with numerous visible typographical errors; translator and print lineage unconfirmed
Decree 18 and closing subscriptions
Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa’s short Latin treatise on the last days, printed in the Paris edition of his works (1514). It reads the years of Christ’s life as jubilees of the Church and places the Church’s resurrection after 1700 and before 1734.
Text available here
Nicholas of Cusa: the Church’s resurrection between 1700 and 1734 →
Nicholas of Cusa, Coniectura de novissimis diebus, in Haec accurata recognitio trium voluminum operum clariss. P. Nicolai Cusae card. (Paris: in aedibus Ascensianis [Josse Bade], 1514), the leaves headed “Coniectura.” and “De novissimis diebus. Fo. II.” (Internet Archive ARes38417, Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla copy, leaves n161–n162), from “Hoc solum absque temerario iudicio” to “omnibus ignotus.” Abbreviations expanded (absq; absque, ꝙ quod, ī in, Christian⁹ Christianus, macrons for m and n); u/v and i/j usage, æ and ę, capitals, virgules (/) and punctuation as printed; spacing normalized. Transcribed from the Internet Archive page images.
Leaves headed “Coniectura.” and “De novissimis diebus. Fo. II.”
Manushchihr i Goshnajaman per source; E.W.West translator
Explains uninterrupted human presence at resurrection, seven renovation agents and57-year raising of dead.
Text available here
Manushchihr on preparing the renewal · commentary →
Manushchihr on those alive at the resurrection · commentary →
Manushchihr explains resurrection and the world to come · commentary →
West SBE18; Peterson normalized digital edition
Chapters35–37; especially36.1–5
Hebrew Bible · Book of Daniel
Daniel 12 describes exceptional distress, rescue, and the awakening of the dead to different outcomes. Its sealed revelation and waiting periods have prompted differing interpretations of end-times chronology.
Text available here
Daniel 8: the sanctuary and the 2,300 evenings and mornings →
Daniel 2: the image and the stone cut out without hands →
Daniel 7: oppressive kings and an everlasting kingdom →
Daniel’s vision of resurrection →
JPS1917 electronic edition, Mechon-Mamre
12:1–13
THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition; Sefaria text API retrieved 2026-09-08
Daniel 12:1–3; excerpt 12:2
Emanuel Swedenborg; anonymous English translator
Emanuel Swedenborg’s 1758 treatise on the Last Judgment, which he says took place in the spiritual world in 1757.
Text available here
Swedenborg: the Last Judgment accomplished in 1757 (Latin, 1758) · commentary →
Swedenborg: the Last Judgment accomplished in 1757 · commentary →
Emanuel Swedenborg, A Treatise Concerning the Last Judgment, and the Destruction of Babylon … Translated from the Latin (London: R. Hindmarsh, 1788; originally published in Latin as De Ultimo Judicio, 1758), n. 45 with its section heading, pp. 86–87 (Internet Archive bim_eighteenth-century_a-treatise-concerning-th_swedenborg-emanuel_1788, leaves n101–n102). Long s (ſ) rendered s; ligatures expanded; roman and italic type not distinguished; line-end hyphenation joined; spacing normalized (one space after punctuation, paragraph breaks as blank lines); running heads, catchwords, signatures, marginal notes and reference asterisks omitted; spelling, capitalization, u/v and i/j usage and punctuation otherwise as printed; omissions inside the selection marked […]. Transcribed from the Internet Archive page images and checked against the item's OCR text layer.
n. 45, pp. 86–87
Middle Persian compilers; E. W. West translator of book7
Successive savior millennia culminate in Soshyant's fifty-seven years, dietary transitions, defeat of evil and renewal.
Text available here
West notices a chronological disagreement · commentary →
The companions at the renovation · commentary →
The passage quoted from the Yasht · commentary →
The passage quoted from the Yasht · commentary →
West English; Avesta.org normalized digital edition1995
Book7 chapters9–11, particularly11.1–11
Traditional attribution; historical authorship not established here
Deuteronomy describes a return to God followed by the gathering of dispersed people, renewal of the heart and restored prosperity.
Text available here
Deuteronomy 32:36–43: the Lord judges and avenges his people →
Deuteronomy 4:25–31: scattering, and return in the end of days →
JPS1917; Mechon-Mamre electronic English; Hebrew verse numbering
30:1–10
Traditional Vyasa attribution; Swami Vijnanananda translator
Devas praise future Kalki as remedy for oppressive rulers and grievances; preceding Buddha-avatar praise differs from hostile portrayals elsewhere.
Text available here
The gods praise the future Kalki →
Wisdomlib hosted English edition / source PDF
10.5.6–18
Justin Martyr
Reads Daniel's heavenly figure in relation to Christ and describes the second coming as ending death for believers. This is one work despite multiple chapter URLs.
Text available here
Justin’s thousand years in Jerusalem · commentary →
Source. Translated by Marcus Dods and George Reith. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) New Advent revised web edition.
Chapters 31 and 45
Joseph Smith · Four recorded accounts
Accounts of a discourse about rainbows, continued harvests, approaching distress, and the timing of Christ’s return. Differences between the recorders’ wording are preserved.
Text available here
Joseph Smith’s rainbow discourse →
The setting of Smith’s rainbow discourse · commentary →
Elijah’s work includes the dead · commentary →
Historian's Office journal vol. 1, p. [5]
Historian's Office journal vol. 1, p. [5]
John S. Fullmer letterbook p. 182
John S. Fullmer letterbook p. 182
JS journal bk. 4, p. [30]
JS journal bk. 4, p. [30]
Wilford Woodruff journal vol. 5, p. [212]
Wilford Woodruff journal vol. 5, p. [212]
Joanna Southcott and correspondents
Invites investigation of Southcott’s revelation claims and anticipates saving the nation if qualified examiners come forward. This is an appeal to test authority, not independent proof of the claimed earlier writings.
Text available here
The woman and the serpent at the end · commentary →
IAPSOP scan of historical print; edition details as noted
Opening letter to Stanhope Bruce; PDF pp. 1–4, printed sequence approximately 49–52
Lactantius
Places world history in a six-thousand-year scheme and describes final conflict and punishment.
Text available here
Lactantius: no more than two hundred years remain · commentary →
Source. Translated by William Fletcher. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) New Advent revised web edition.
Book VII, chapters 14 onward and Antichrist passage
Deguchi Onisaburo; Oomoto doctrinal editors; Maeda Shigeki and Charles Rowe translators
Divine Signposts collects teachings associated with Deguchi Onisaburo. Its international edition presents Oomoto’s expectations of a divine realm on earth.
Text available here
Oomoto's coming world of peace →
What begins at Ayabe · commentary →
Official international edition based on1985Japanese; Maeda Esperanto to RoweEnglish
Part4chapter4 paragraphs720–792; chapter1para582–591; international foreword
Canonical Buddhist discourse; translators Bhikkhu Sujato and Thanissaro Bhikkhu · Discourse attributed to the Buddha; historical authorship not established
This Buddhist discourse describes ethical decline and recovery, renewed long lifespans, the future Buddha Metteyya and the king Sankha. Metteyya is a future Buddha.
Text available here
Sujato pinned revision d6d54741b7f2ddfeca82f02c3f95eb3990b4e351; alternative Thanissaro ATI 2013 revision
DN26 22.19–26.3; Thanissaro introduction and closing excerpt
SuttaCentral published Bilara English JSON, DN26; website entry https://suttacentral.net/dn26/en/sujato
dn26:25.1–25.6; context dn26:19.1–24.5 and 26.1–27.7
Israel A. Smith and Stephen M. Veazey
Section 140:5a–d; revelation through Israel A. Smith, 7 April 1947. Scripture Toolbox transcription; paragraph 5c–d corroborated by Mission Road congregation.
Text available here
Zion depends on the people’s spiritual preparation →
Veazey’s later counsel on creating Zion · commentary →
Section 140:5a–d; revelation through Israel A. Smith, 7 April 1947. Scripture Toolbox transcription; paragraph 5c–d corroborated by Mission Road congregation.
Section 140:5a–d; revelation through Israel A. Smith, 7 April 1947. Scripture Toolbox transcription; paragraph 5c–d corroborated by Mission Road congregation.
Section 163:1–4, Stephen M. Veazey, presented 25 March 2007; Open Scripture Foundation transcription.
Section 163:1–4, Stephen M. Veazey, presented 25 March 2007; Open Scripture Foundation transcription.
Neil L. Andersen; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Applies Matthew's signs and wheat-and-tares imagery to the present period before Christ's return.
Text available here
Being wheat among the tares · commentary →
Official Gospel Library English transcript
Opening signs-of-return discussion and Wheat and Tares section
Qoheleth (the Preacher); historical author not named
A biblical wisdom book reflecting on life and mortality, with a closing poem about aging and death.
Text available here
The poem Cyril interprets: youth, aging and death · commentary →
American Standard Version (1901), eBible transcription
Ecclesiastes 11:9–12:14