What Does Revelation 19:8 Mean in the King James?
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
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 bride is given her garment, and its fabric is the set-apart ones’ own acts of rightness.
THE MEANING
The bride’s brightness is the lived rightness of the set-apart ones: the linen is their acts. Yet the clothing is granted, holding gift and human action in the same image. The verse speaks now of rightness becoming visible in a life that is received and lived.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a gift makes the recipient’s actions irrelevant.
THE ROOT
δικαιώματα
dikaiōmata
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
right, just, aligned
“righteousness” in this verse is dikaiōmata. The Greek form is plural, pointing to acts of rightness rather than only an abstract quality. The linen makes that rightness visible in the set-apart ones’ deeds: what is granted takes the shape of a lived life.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: right, just
δίκαιος
This describes a person whose life is aligned with what is right, linking the linen to more than an outward status.
dikaiosynē: rightness, justice, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
This names the quality expressed in the acts; here, rightness takes concrete form in what the set-apart ones do.
ἐδόθη
edothē
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-)
give, grant
“granted” in this verse is edothē. The passive verb shows that the clothing is received. The gift does not erase the bride’s action: she is arrayed in a garment identified with the set-apart ones’ deeds.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: giving, gift
δόσις
This related giving word brings out the act of receiving that stands behind the granted garment.
doma: gift, what is given
δόμα
This related word for a gift echoes the verse’s picture of clothing bestowed rather than self-created.
THE PATTERN
What is given takes visible form in the actions of those who receive it.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.THE THREAD
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.Ephesians says these good works are prepared by God and become the path the newly created life walks. That opens the linen’s double movement: the garment is granted, and its acts are genuinely lived by the set-apart ones.
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