What Does Revelation 2:20 Mean in the King James?
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
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 charge is not only that a false voice speaks, but that its teaching is permitted to turn belonging into wandering.
THE MEANING
A voice can claim prophetic authority while its teaching draws people away from fidelity in both body and worship. The verse holds the one who permits that teaching answerable for its fruit: Jesus’ servants are led toward sexual unfaithfulness and meals offered to idols.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A prophetic title does not make a teaching harmless, and permitting its influence is not neutral.
THE ROOT
πλανᾶν
planan
GROWS FROM
πλαν-
plan-
The Greek stem means to cause someone to wander or lead them astray.
“seduce” in this verse is planan. The teaching is pictured as movement off course: the people it seduces are carried away from fidelity. The same stem names both wandering and error, so deception here is not just a mistaken idea; it is influence that takes people somewhere.
ALSO GROWS
planē: error, delusion
πλάνη
This branch names the state of being led away from the true course.
planētēs: wanderer; the source of the English word “planet”
πλανήτης
The shared root keeps wandering inside the picture of seduction: the teaching leads its hearers off course.
planos: deceiver
πλάνος
This branch names the agent who leads others astray.
διδάσκειν
didaskein
GROWS FROM
διδασκ-
didask-
The Greek stem carries the meaning of teaching or instruction.
“teach” in this verse is didaskein. The verse links instruction directly to its consequences: the teaching draws people into particular acts and forms of worship. Its content becomes visible in the direction it gives its hearers.
ALSO GROWS
didaskalos: teacher
διδάσκαλος
The word shares the stem for teaching, tying the claimed prophetic role to the instruction being given.
didachē: teaching, instruction
διδαχή
This branch names the body of instruction whose effects the verse describes.
δούλους
doulous
GROWS FROM
δουλ-
doul-
The Greek word means servants or slaves; the stem carries the sense of service or bondage.
The verse calls these people Jesus’ servants, then shows a permitted teaching drawing their conduct toward rival worship. The shared stem keeps the tension in view: their belonging and their service are being pulled in different directions.
ALSO GROWS
douleuō: to serve, be a servant
δουλεύω
This verb makes explicit the service implied by the name “servants.”
douleia: service, slavery, bondage
δουλεία
This branch shows the root’s range from service to bondage, sharpening the question of whose influence directs their lives.
THE PATTERN
A claim to speak for God is exposed by whether it draws people into fidelity or redirects them toward rival allegiance.
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.THE THREAD
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.The Greek verb translated “deceive” comes from the same πλαν- stem as “seduce” here: both describe being led astray. Revelation shows where that wandering leads, toward sexual unfaithfulness and food offered to idols.
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