King James Version
Revelation 20
15 verses with commentary
The Thousand Years
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apocalyptic language characteristic of Je...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE BINDING OF SATAN.
(1) **And I saw an angel come down . . .**—Rather, *And I saw an angel descending out of the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain on* (not merely in his hand, but hanging from it as it would do when on) *his hand.* It is needless to settle who is represented by this angel. It is enough that in the vision he manifests by the key and the chain which he carries...
Read full commentary →And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,...</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apocalyptic language characteristic of...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **And he laid hold on the dragon . . .**—Or, *And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.* The four words are thus used to describe the archenemy; they are the same as those used for the same purpose in Revelation 12:9. Over the world he has exercised in every quarter his power as prince of this world, and he has been found f...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 4 Re 4:1-11. Vision of God's Throne in Heaven; the Four and Twenty Elders; the Four Living Creatures.
Here begins the Revelation proper; and first, the fourth and fifth chapters set before us the heavenly scenery of the succeeding visions, and God on His throne, as the covenant God of His Church, the Revealer of them to His apostle through Jesus Christ. The first great portion comprises ...
Read full commentary →And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loose...</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusion...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **And cast him into the bottomless pit . . .**—Rather, *and cast him into the abyss* (same word as in Revelation 20:1), *and locked and sealed *(*the door or mouth*)* above him, that he may not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years shall have been finished; after these things he must be loosed for a little time.* The sealing reminds us of the sealing employed when the wicked on...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. And--**omitted in the two oldest manuscripts, Vulgate, Syriac.
**I was, &c.--**Greek, "I became in the Spirit" (see on Re 1:10): I was completely rapt in vision into the heavenly world.
**was set--**not was placed, but was situated, literally, "lay."
**one sat on the throne--**the Eternal Father: the Creator (Re 4:11): also compare Re 4:8 with Re 1:4, where also the Father is design...
Read full commentary →And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worship...</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusion...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE MILLENNIAL REIGN.
(4) **And I saw thrones, and they sat** . . . There is a prominence given to the *thrones, *because the thought of the reign of the saints is uppermost in the mind of the seer. The thrones are seen, and those who sat on them. It has been asked, “By whom are the thrones occupied?” The answer is supplied in the latter part of the verse. Those who are in the latter part said to ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. was--**omitted in the two oldest manuscripts but supported by Vulgate and Coptic.
**to look upon--**Greek, "in sight," or "appearance."
**jasper--**From Re 21:11, where it is called most precious, which the jasper was not, Ebrard infers it was a diamond. Ordinarily, the jasper is a stone of various wavy colors, somewhat transparent: in Re 21:11 it represents watery crystalline brightness....
Read full commentary →But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
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<strong>But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apocalyptic language characteristic of...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **But the rest of the dead lived not again . . .**—Rather, *The rest of the dead lived not* (we must omit the word “*again”*)* until the thousand years be finished. This is the first resurrection.* In those words we meet one of the keys to the controversy respecting the millennium. What is this resurrection? Is it the resurrection at which the saints shall assume the glorified bodies, and thei...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. seats--**rather as the Greek is translated in this very verse, "thrones," of course lower and smaller than the grand central throne. So Re 16:10, "the seat (rather, throne) of the beasts," in hellish parody of God's throne.
**four and twenty elders--**Greek, "the four and twenty (or as one oldest manuscript, 'twenty-four') elders": the well-known elders [Alford]. But Tregelles translates, "...
Read full commentary →Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Blessed and holy is he that hath. . . .**—This is one of the benedictions of the Apocalypse. The blessing on those who have part or share in the first resurrection has this definite feature. On these the second death has not power (or authority). The second death stands in contrast with the first resurrection. The second death is not the mere physical dying; it is rather that more awful deat...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. proceeded--**Greek, "proceed."
**thunderings and voices--**The two oldest manuscripts transpose, "voices and thunderings." Compare at the giving of the law on Sinai, Ex 19:16. "The thunderings express God's threats against the ungodly: there are voices in the thunders (Re 10:3), that is, not only does He threaten generally, but also predicts special judgments" [Grotius].
**seven lamps ......
Read full commentary →Satan's Final Defeat
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,...</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apocalyptic language characteristic of Jewish prophetic literature, d...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE LOOSING OF SATAN AND HIS FINAL OVERTHROW.
(7) **And when the thousand years are expired.**—Rather, *And when the thousand years have been finished.* The binding of Satan implied restraint put upon his power and freedom of action; the loosing means the removing of these restraints. The reign of Christ with His saints has been a witness to the power of our Master over the wicked one. This witnes...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. Two oldest manuscripts, A, B, Vulgate, Coptic, and Syriac read, "As it were a sea of glass."
**like ... crystal--**not imperfectly transparent as the ancient common glass, but like rock crystal. Contrast the turbid "many waters" on which the harlot "sitteth" (Re 17:1, 15). Compare Job 37:18, "the sky ... as a molten looking-glass." Thus, primarily, the pure ether which separates God's throne ...
Read full commentary →And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meani...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **And shall go out to deceive the nations.**—Perhaps better, *shall come out, *as the earth is the view-point. The nations deceived and led astray are designated as Gog and Magog. The names are derived from Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38, 39). In rabbinical books the names were used to describe the nations who would rise against the reign of the Messiah. The names are to be understood figuratively. No pa...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. calf--**"a steer" [Alford]. The Septuagint often uses the Greek term here for an ox (Ex 22:1; 29:10, &c.).
**as a man--**The oldest manuscripts have "as of a man."
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **And they went up on the breadth of the earth.**—The hostile multitudes spread like swarms over the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Jerusalem is the beloved city—in it was the Mount Zion which God loved (Psalm 78:68). It is the figure of the true spiritual Zion and Jerusalem which has been faithful to her king. The beloved city has its camp; it is ready for ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. about him--**Greek, "round about him." Alford connects this with the following sentence: "All round and within (their wings) they are (so two oldest manuscripts, A, B, and Vulgate read) full of eyes." John's object is to show that the six wings in each did not interfere with that which he had before declared, namely, that they were "full of eyes before and behind." The eyes were round the out...
Read full commentary →And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning....
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **And the devil that deceived them . . .**—Better, *And the devil that deceiveth them, or was deceiving them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the wild beasts and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented by day and by night unto the ages of the ages.* The devil cast from heaven (Revelation 12:9), bound in the abyss (Revelation 20:3), is now flung into the fla...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-11. The ground of praise here is God's eternity, and God's power and glory manifested in the creation of all things for His pleasure. Creation is the foundation of all God's other acts of power, wisdom, and love, and therefore forms the first theme of His creatures' thanksgivings. The four living creatures take the lead of the twenty-four elders, both in this anthem, and in that new song which f...
Read full commentary →The Great White Throne Judgment
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apoc...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **And I saw a great white throne . . .**—Or, *And I saw a great white throne, and Him that was seated thereon, from whose face fled the earth and the heaven, and place was not found for them.* The throne is described as great and white, to set it in strong contrast to other thrones mentioned in the book, *e.g., *Revelation 4:4; Revelation 20:4. It is a white throne, in token of the purity of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-11. The ground of praise here is God's eternity, and God's power and glory manifested in the creation of all things for His pleasure. Creation is the foundation of all God's other acts of power, wisdom, and love, and therefore forms the first theme of His creatures' thanksgivings. The four living creatures take the lead of the twenty-four elders, both in this anthem, and in that new song which f...
Read full commentary →And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were writte...</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusion...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12, 13) **And I saw the dead, small and great . . .**—Or rather, *And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before* (not “God,” as in text, but) *the throne, and books* (or, *rolls*)* were opened; and another book* (or, *roll*)* was opened, which is *(*the book*)* of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which had been written in the books* (or, *rolls*)* according to their...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-11. The ground of praise here is God's eternity, and God's power and glory manifested in the creation of all things for His pleasure. Creation is the foundation of all God's other acts of power, wisdom, and love, and therefore forms the first theme of His creatures' thanksgivings. The four living creatures take the lead of the twenty-four elders, both in this anthem, and in that new song which f...
Read full commentary →And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. hell: or, the grave
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek te...
Read full commentary →And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
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<strong>And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apocalyptic language characteristic of Jewish prophetic literature, drawi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14, 15) **And death and hell were cast . . .**—Better, *And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.* The latter part of the verse contains, according to the best MS. authority, the additional words “the lake of fire.” We then read, not “This is the second death”—as though the reference were to what went before—but, *This is the second death, the lake of fire.* The last verse then follows...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 5 Re 5:1-14. The Book with Seven Seals: None Worthy to Open It but the Lamb: He Takes It amidst the Praises of the Redeemed, and of the Whole Heavenly Host.
**1. in, &c.--**Greek, "(lying) upon the right hand." His right hand was open and on it lay the book. On God's part there was no withholding of His future purposes as contained in the book: the only obstacle to unsealing it is sta...
Read full commentary →And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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<strong>And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire....</strong> This verse from Revelation's vision of millennium, satan bound, final rebellion, great white throne - ultimate justice employs apocalyptic imagery rich with Old Testament allusions and symbolic meaning. The Greek text uses vivid apocalyptic language characteristic of Jewish prophetic literat...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. strong--**(Psa 103:20). His voice penetrated heaven, earth, and Hades (Re 10:1-3).