What Does Revelation 3:16 Mean in the King James?
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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 verse makes the middle ground no refuge: what is lukewarm becomes something the speaker expels.
THE MEANING
The reader meets a stark verdict: lukewarmness, neither cold nor hot, ends in being vomited from the speaker’s mouth. The image is bodily rejection, not mild disappointment. The verse confronts any present state that claims neutrality while remaining in this rejected middle.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that staying in the middle is automatically the safest or most acceptable position.
THE ROOT
ἐμέσαι
emesai
GROWS FROM
ἐμέω
emeō
To vomit or expel from the mouth.
“spue” in this verse is emesai. The verb names bodily expulsion. The image makes lukewarmness something intolerable in the mouth, not merely something that earns mild disapproval.
ALSO GROWS
emetos: Vomit.
ἔμετος
The related noun keeps the image physical and unmistakable.
emetikos: Causing vomiting; emetic.
ἐμετικός
This related form shows the root’s direct association with the body’s rejection response.
ζεστός
zestos
GROWS FROM
ζέω
zeō
To boil or be fervently hot.
The Greek word for hot carries the sense of heat from boiling. That sharpens the contrast: the rejected state is not simply less intense than heat, but tepid where the alternative is boiling.
ALSO GROWS
zeō: To boil; to be fervently hot.
ζέω
The verb exposes the force behind the word translated “hot.”
zesis: Boiling; heat.
ζέσις
This related noun preserves the image of active, rising heat.
THE PATTERN
A state caught between opposed commitments is exposed as unstable rather than secure.
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.THE THREAD
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.The next verse answers the image of lukewarmness with a call to be zealous and turn. Its “therefore” makes the call part of the same confrontation, not a separate thought.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us