What Does Revelation 20:15 Mean in the King James?
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
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 final division turns on what the record reveals: a name absent from the book of life meets the lake of fire.
THE MEANING
This verse places the reader before the record’s final disclosure: whoever is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. It holds absence and consequence together with no softening between them.
THE ROOT
εὑρέθη
heurēthē
GROWS FROM
εὑρίσκω (heuriskō; εὑρ-)
To find, discover, or come upon.
“found” in this verse is heurēthē. The verb belongs to the language of finding and discovery, so the image is of a record disclosing what is written there. The casting follows that disclosed absence: the sentence moves from finding to consequence.
ALSO GROWS
heurēma: A thing found; a discovery.
εὕρημα
This noun shares the find-and-discover family, making the verse’s disclosure part of the root’s own word-world.
heurēka: I have found.
εὕρηκα
The familiar exclamation “Eureka” comes from this same verb: what was hidden has been found.
γεγραμμένος
gegrammenos
GROWS FROM
γράφω (graphō; γραφ-)
To write, mark, or inscribe.
The same Greek word family gives γραφή (graphē), meaning writing or Scripture. English separates “written” from “Scripture,” while Greek keeps them connected: a name is inscribed in a record that can be read and searched.
ALSO GROWS
graphē: Writing; Scripture.
γραφή
It shares the γραφ- root with “written,” joining a name’s inscription to the wider idea of writing.
gramma: A letter or written document.
γράμμα
It carries the same writing root into the marks and documents through which a record is preserved.
ζωῆς
zōēs
GROWS FROM
ζάω (zaō; ζω-)
To live, be alive.
The book is named for life itself: the verse frames its decisive distinction around whether a name is found in that book. This word family can speak both of living and of giving life, deepening the weight of the record’s name.
ALSO GROWS
zōē: Life.
ζωή
This is the same word in its dictionary form, naming the life at the center of the book’s title.
zōopoieō: To make alive; give life.
ζωοποιέω
This compound joins the life-root to “make,” showing how the same family can describe life being given.
THE PATTERN
Where a name is written discloses where that person belongs.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.THE THREAD
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.This verse names the same book from the other side: a name can be blotted out, and the speaker promises not to blot out the overcomer’s. Together, the verses make the presence or absence of a name in that record the decisive disclosure.
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