What Does Revelation 16:7 Mean in the King James?
And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
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
A voice from the altar calls judgment truth brought into alignment, speaking from the place where the victims’ blood is remembered.
THE MEANING
The altar’s voice meets you now with a verdict: the judgments of the Lord God Almighty are true and aligned. The verse holds shed blood beside the judgment that answers it, naming power together with truth and rightness. The altar becomes a witness that judgment is not detached from the lives it touches.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that judgment is merely arbitrary power, detached from truth and rightness.
THE ROOT
κρίσεις
kriseis
GROWS FROM
κριν-
krin-
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
The Greek word for judgments belongs to a family built around discerning and deciding. The altar’s voice says these decisions are true and aligned, so judgment here is presented as an answer to what has happened, not a bare display of power.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: Judge, decide, or discern.
κρίνω
The related verb names the act behind the judgments affirmed by the altar.
krima: A judgment or verdict.
κρίμα
This related noun shows the same family can name the decision that follows discernment.
δίκαιαι
dikaiai
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Rightness or alignment.
The word translated “righteous” carries the sense of alignment and rightness. It describes the character of the judgments: they accord with what is true, rather than resting on authority alone.
ALSO GROWS
dikaiosynē: Righteousness; alignment.
δικαιοσύνη
This related word carries the same idea of rightness that shapes the altar’s verdict.
dikaiōma: A right act, requirement, or decree.
δικαίωμα
This branch shows how the word family can describe what is rightly established.
ἀληθιναὶ
alēthinai
GROWS FROM
ἀληθ-
alēth-
Truth or genuineness.
“True” names the judgments as faithful to reality, while “righteous” names their alignment with what is right. Together they say that the verdict is both real and rightly ordered.
ALSO GROWS
alētheia: Truth.
ἀλήθεια
This related word names the truth affirmed here about the judgments.
alēthēs: True or genuine.
ἀληθής
This branch shares the same truth-bearing family as the altar’s description.
THE PATTERN
Just judgment expresses truth through right alignment and answers harm rather than ignoring it.
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.THE THREAD
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?The souls beneath the altar ask how long until their blood is judged and avenged; “judge” and “judgments” come from the same Greek word family, κρίνω (krinō, to judge or decide). Revelation 16:7 lets the altar image move from asking for judgment to voicing its affirmation: the judgments are true and aligned.
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