What Does Revelation 20:7 Mean in the King James?
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
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 Adversary’s release marks the end of his restraint, not a change in his nature.
THE MEANING
The verse places a boundary around the Adversary’s confinement: the thousand years reach completion, and he is released. His restraint changes; his identity does not. The verse keeps release distinct from transformation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that release itself makes the released one harmless: the one released remains the Adversary.
THE ROOT
λυθήσεται
lythēsetai
GROWS FROM
λύω
To loosen, untie, or release.
“loosed” in this verse is lythēsetai. The verb names a loosening of restraint, not a change in the one being released. The wording makes clear that the Adversary’s confinement ends while his identity remains the same.
ALSO GROWS
apolyō: Release, dismiss, or send away.
ἀπολύω
This compound carries the same loosening root into release from or departure away from something.
katalyō: Dismantle, dissolve, or overthrow.
καταλύω
The same root can describe undoing what holds something together, showing how closely release and the removal of restraint are joined.
φυλακῆς
phylakēs
GROWS FROM
φυλάσσ-
phylassō
To guard, keep, or watch over.
The word for prison belongs to the same family as guarding and keeping watch. The verse’s movement is from custody to release from custody: confinement is an active restraint, not simply a place.
ALSO GROWS
phylassō: Guard, keep, or watch over.
φυλάσσω
This verb reveals the guarding held inside the word for prison.
phylax: A guard or watcher.
φύλαξ
The related noun names the one who keeps watch, linking the prison to its guarding function.
THE PATTERN
Scripture marks release as a transition when confinement or restraint reaches its limit.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.THE THREAD
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.John uses the same verb when Jesus tells them to unbind Lazarus from his graveclothes. The shared root names loosening itself; the context shows whether release is restoration or exposure.
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