What Does Revelation 22:13 Mean in the King James?
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
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
Three pairs name the same totality at three levels: the alphabet, origin and completion, and the first and farthest edge.
THE MEANING
This voice holds the whole span: the first mark, the originating source, the completed end, and the farthest edge. “End” carries the sense of completion as well as stopping, while “last” keeps the image of an outermost boundary. Your present moment lies within that span.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that an ending is empty or independent of its source: the same one remains at both edges.
THE ROOT
τέλος
telos
GROWS FROM
τελ-
tel-
An end point, completion, or fulfilled aim.
English “end” can sound like a bare stop, but τέλος can also name completion or an outcome. Beside “beginning,” it makes the span feel held together from source to fulfillment.
ALSO GROWS
teleō: Bring to completion, accomplish.
τελέω
This verb shows the end as something brought to completion.
teleios: Complete, brought to maturity.
τέλειος
This related word describes what has reached its fullness.
ἀρχή
archē
GROWS FROM
ἀρχ-
arch-
Beginning, origin, or first principle; the word family also carries the sense of rule or leadership.
“Beginning” can suggest only a starting point, while ἀρχή can also name an originating principle. Its word family connects that firstness with authority, so the verse pairs the source with the completion it holds.
ALSO GROWS
archomai: Begin.
ἄρχομαι
The verb carries the sense of coming into a beginning.
archōn: Ruler, leader.
ἄρχων
This related word shows how the idea of being first or at the head can extend into rule.
ἔσχατος
eschatos
GROWS FROM
ἐσχ-
esch-
Furthest or outermost; hence, last.
“Last” marks the farthest edge, carrying both sequence and boundary. The verse’s “first and last” holds the full span between its outermost points.
ALSO GROWS
eschaton: The last or farthest thing; the neuter form of ἔσχατος.
ἔσχατον
It preserves the sense of an outer limit or final point.
eschatology: A term formed from ἔσχατος and λόγος, referring to discourse about last things.
Its name preserves the same farthest-edge sense carried by “last.”
THE PATTERN
The one who holds the beginning also holds the completion and the farthest edge.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.THE THREAD
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews pairs ἀρχηγός (archegos, originator) with τελειωτής (teleiōtēs, one who brings to completion), echoing the ἀρχ- and τελ- word families in this verse. The opening and far edge become a lived span, held together in one person.
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