What Does Revelation 6:8 Mean in the King James?
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
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
Death and Hades wield real destruction here, but their authority is granted and measured to a fourth of the earth.
THE MEANING
The verse shows Death riding with Hades close behind, bringing killing by sword, hunger, death, and the beasts of the earth. Their reach is assigned to a fourth part of the earth. The violence is stark, and its authority is not presented as unlimited.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that death’s power here is self-originating and without limit: it is given authority over a measured part of the earth.
THE ROOT
ἐδόθη
edothē
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-)
The Greek verb δίδωμι (didōmi) means to give or grant; ἐδόθη (edothē) means “was given.”
The verse presents destructive authority as received, not self-originating. The passive “was given” leaves the giver unnamed here, while making clear that Death’s reach is assigned.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: Hand over; deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This compound keeps the same “give” seed and sharpens the sense of power being handed over.
apodidōmi: Give back; return.
ἀποδίδωμι
This branch shows giving can include returning what is held, echoing the verse’s picture of authority as something held by grant.
θάνατος
thanatos
GROWS FROM
θανατ-
thanat-
The Greek word θάνατος (thanatos) means death.
The rider’s name “Death” and the later “death” in the list of means are forms of the same Greek word. English capitalization marks one as a name, but the repeated word binds the personified rider to the killing he brings.
ALSO GROWS
thanatōi: “With death,” the form of the word used again in this verse.
θανάτῳ
The repeated term makes Death both the rider’s name and one of the stated means of killing.
thanatoō: Put to death; kill.
θανατόω
This related verb makes explicit the movement from death as a named power to the act of killing.
χλωρός
chloros
GROWS FROM
χλωρ-
chlor-
The Greek color word χλωρός (chloros) means green or yellow-green, and can describe a pale green hue.
“Pale” can sound like color drained away, but χλωρός also names the green of grass. The horse bears a sickly, vegetation-green color, carrying a trace of life’s color in an image of death.
ALSO GROWS
chlorōi: “Green,” used of the grass in Mark 6:39.
χλωρῷ
The same color word can describe living grass, making the horse’s hue more vivid than blank pallor.
chloros: “Green,” used of the grass in Revelation 8:7.
χλωρὸς
Elsewhere in Revelation, the same word colors grass; here it colors the horse associated with Death.
THE PATTERN
Destructive authority in scripture is real, but its scope is granted and bounded.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.THE THREAD
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.The same Greek words appear in both passages: ᾅδης (hadēs, the realm of the dead), rendered “hell,” and θάνατος (thanatos, death). Here Hades follows Death; there, both are named together under the image of keys, opening the pair as powers that are present but not ultimate.
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