What Does Revelation 10:3 Mean in the King James?
And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
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 lionlike cry is followed by thunder that is not mere noise but seven voices.
THE MEANING
A cry with the force of a lion gives way to seven thunders, each described as having a voice of its own. Revelation arrives here as utterance carried through sound, even when it does not arrive as ordinary speech.
THE ROOT
ἐλάλησαν
elalēsan
GROWS FROM
λαλέω (laleō), stem λαλε-
To speak or utter.
“uttered” in this verse is elalēsan. The verb is λαλέω, “to speak,” the same verb used when some hear a messenger who “spake” in John 12:29. The thunders’ voices are presented as utterance, not merely as an echo of the cry.
ALSO GROWS
laliá: Speech or manner of speaking.
λαλιά
This branch names speech as something heard, illuminating how the thunders’ sound is given voice.
laleō: To speak or say.
λαλέω
The verb’s basic sense makes the thunders speakers in the verse, rather than just a sound following the cry.
φωνάς
phōnas
GROWS FROM
φων-
phōn-
Voice or sound.
The Greek word φωνή appears for the loud voice and again for the thunders’ own voices. The same word holds together a cry and the sound of thunder, letting the scene move from one voice-like sound to seven.
ALSO GROWS
phōneō: To call out or sound.
φωνέω
This verbal branch connects voice with the act of sounding, as the cry gives way to the thunders’ utterance.
aphōnos: Voiceless or mute.
ἄφωνος
Its contrast sharpens the image: the thunders are not left voiceless but are described as having voices of their own.
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets thunder and voice name the same overwhelming sound, so force can also be heard as utterance.
The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.THE THREAD
The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.The Greek verb translated “spake” shares the root λαλέω with “uttered” here. John places that speaking beside thunder, opening Revelation’s scene as thunder that speaks.
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