What Does Revelation 11:1 Mean in the King James?
And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
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 line of measurement reaches beyond the sanctuary: the people bowing there stand inside the same boundary.
THE MEANING
The measure includes the altar and the ones bowing there, holding the sacred place and its worshippers within one scope. The people gathered there are part of what is being measured.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The sanctuary matters, but the people gathered within it are outside God’s reckoning.
THE ROOT
μέτρησον
metréson
GROWS FROM
μετρ-
metr-
Measure, standard, or defined extent.
“measure” in this verse is metréson. The Greek connects the act of measuring to a standard or defined extent. Here, the command takes in not only the sanctuary and altar but also the people bowing there, placing them within the same measured scope.
ALSO GROWS
métron: A measure, standard, or extent.
μέτρον
The noun behind the measuring verb makes the idea of a defined scope explicit.
ámetros: Without measure; beyond a defined extent.
ἄμετρος
Its contrast with measured extent highlights how this verse gives the sanctuary and its worshippers a visible boundary.
προσκυνοῦντας
proskynountas
GROWS FROM
προσκυν-
proskyn-
Bow down.
The word for worshippers names them by their posture: they are the ones bowing down. The scene keeps worship embodied, bringing the people themselves, not just a place or institution, inside the measure.
ALSO GROWS
proskynēsis: Bowing down or prostration.
προσκύνησις
This noun preserves the physical posture held inside the verse’s act of measuring.
proskynētēs: One who bows down; a worshipper.
προσκυνητής
Like the participle in this verse, it names a person through the act of bowing.
THE PATTERN
In prophetic visions, measurement makes sacred space legible by giving it defined bounds.
And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.THE THREAD
And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.The same measuring verb, μετρέω (metréō), returns with a reed, now measuring the city, its gates, and its wall. Revelation 11 measures the sanctuary and those bowing within it; Revelation 21 carries that measured order across the city’s full form.
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