What Does Revelation 1:16 Mean in the King James?
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The “twoedged” sword is literally called “two-mouthed,” joining the blade that leaves his mouth to the mouth itself.
THE MEANING
This image meets you now: the figure holds the seven stars, a sharp blade comes from his mouth, and his face shines with the sun’s full force. His speech appears as something with an edge, and his presence as light at full strength.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that spoken words are only sound without force: here, the spoken word is pictured as a blade.
THE ROOT
δίστομος
distomos
GROWS FROM
στόμα
stoma
Mouth; also an opening and, in weapon imagery, an edge.
The Greek word translated “twoedged” literally means “two-mouthed.” The blade that comes from the mouth is named with the very word for mouth, so the image binds speech and cutting edge together.
ALSO GROWS
stoma: Mouth; also an opening or the edge of a weapon.
στόμα
This root is inside “two-mouthed,” making the mouth and the blade’s edge part of the same word-picture.
stomion: A small mouth or an instrument placed in the mouth, such as a bit.
στόμιον
A mouthpiece channels force through the mouth; this branch echoes how the verse pictures the mouth as the source of a blade.
THE PATTERN
The word that comes from the mouth is pictured as an active blade that reaches and cuts.
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.THE THREAD
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.Both verses use δίστομος (distomos, “two-mouthed” or “two-edged”). Revelation locates that double edge at the speaker’s mouth; Hebrews shows the same image piercing and discerning inwardly.
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