What Does Revelation 13:3 Mean in the King James?
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
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 hidden hinge is that wonder becomes direction: the earth follows the beast after its wound is healed.
THE MEANING
A wound that looks fatal becomes a spectacle that gathers the world’s attention. The earth’s wonder carries it after the beast: astonishment becomes following.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A startling recovery proves the one restored deserves your trust; this verse shows how wonder itself can draw the world after the beast.
THE ROOT
ἐσφαγμένην
esphagmenēn
GROWS FROM
σφαγ
sphag
Slaughter; killing by slaughter.
The verb describes one slaughtered, the same verb used of the Lamb as slain in Revelation 5:6. English says “wounded to death,” while Greek lets the beast’s head carry the language of slaughter, and then sets that image beside a recovery that commands the world’s gaze.
ALSO GROWS
esphagmenon: Slain; used of the Lamb in Revelation 5:6.
ἐσφαγμένον
The same root marks both the beast’s apparently fatal wound and the Lamb’s being slain, making their shared death-mark visible.
sphagē: Slaughter or killing.
σφαγή
This noun makes clear that the root reaches beyond an injury to the language of slaughter.
ἐθεραπεύθη
etherapeuthē
GROWS FROM
θεραπευ
therapeu
To attend to or care for; also to heal.
The verb translated “healed” can also mean to attend to or care for; its word-family includes care and service as well as healing. Here the wound is restored, and the next clause shows what that recovery does: it leaves the earth marveling and following.
ALSO GROWS
therapeia: Care, attendance, or healing.
θεραπεία
This related noun carries both the sense of attending to someone and the sense of healing.
therapeutēs: One who treats or cares for; a healer.
θεραπευτής
This branch names the one who attends to a patient, echoing the care contained in the verb translated “healed.”
ἐθαύμασεν
ethaumAsen
GROWS FROM
θαυμα
thauma
Wonder or astonishment.
“wondered” in this verse is ethaumAsen. This root can name both a marvel and the response of marveling. Here wonder does not remain detached observation: the earth wonders “after” the beast, turning astonishment into following.
ALSO GROWS
thauma: A wonder or marvel.
θαῦμα
The noun names what provokes the astonishment expressed by the verb in the verse.
thaumastos: Wonderful or marvelous; causing wonder.
θαυμαστός
This related form describes what draws the response of astonishment that the verse turns into following.
THE PATTERN
An apparent return from death becomes a sign that gathers the response of those who see it.
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.THE THREAD
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.The same Greek verb for being “wounded to death” describes the Lamb as slain. In this verse, the slaughter-marked one stands at the center; in Revelation 13:3, the beast’s recovered wound draws the earth to follow it.
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