What Does Revelation 14:10 Mean in the King James?
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
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 Greek places “prepared” beside “unmixed,” making the cup’s undiluted strength part of the sentence itself.
THE MEANING
The cup of divine anger is drunk at full strength, and its consequence is named without veil: torment in fire and brimstone before the holy messengers and the Lamb. The suffering is exposed and witnessed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that this judgment is diluted or hidden: the cup is unmixed, and the torment is in the presence of witnesses.
THE ROOT
ἀκράτου
akratou
GROWS FROM
κεραννυ-
kerannymi
To mix or blend; with the privative ἀ-, ἄκρατος means unmixed or undiluted.
“without mixture” in this verse is akratou. The Greek sets a form of “mix” beside “unmixed.” The cup is prepared, yet its contents are not diluted.
ALSO GROWS
kekerasmenou: having been mixed or prepared
κεκερασμένου
This participle appears immediately before ἀκράτου in the Greek, placing “mixed” and “unmixed” side by side.
kerasate: mix it
κεράσατε
Revelation 18:6 uses the same verb family for the contents of Babylon’s cup, returning to this language of measured judgment.
θυμοῦ
thymou
GROWS FROM
θυμ-
thym-
Heat, anger, and fierce inward force.
The Greek word translated “wrath” carries the sense of heat and force. It stands beside ὀργή, another word for anger, intensifying the image of the cup rather than cooling it.
ALSO GROWS
thymos: anger, heat, passion
θυμός
This is the noun naming the heated anger in the wine of this verse.
epithymia: desire, longing
ἐπιθυμία
This related word carries the stem into intense inward desire; here its force is expressed as anger.
βασανισθήσεται
basanisthēsetai
GROWS FROM
βασαν-
basan-
To torment; the related word family also carries touchstone and testing language.
“tormented” in this verse is basanisthēsetai. The verb names torment, and the verse specifies fire and brimstone, keeping its violence explicit. The testing echo in the word family does not replace the suffering the sentence states.
ALSO GROWS
basanos: torment, torture; touchstone
βάσανος
The word family holds torment alongside testing language, while the verse gives the torment a concrete form.
basanistēs: tormentor, torturer
βασανιστής
The related noun keeps the root concrete: this is inflicted torment, not merely inner distress.
THE PATTERN
The cup makes judgment something received and drunk to its bitter end.
For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.THE THREAD
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.The Greek verb behind “fill” here belongs to the same mixing-word family placed beside “unmixed” in Revelation 14:10. The cup returns with its contents measured back double, extending the image of judgment given at full strength.
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