What Does Revelation 7:13 Mean in the King James?
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
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 robes are cast around them, but the elder’s question reaches past the covering to the source of their arrival.
THE MEANING
You encounter the white covering before you know its wearers’ story. The elder’s two questions hold appearance and origin together: what these people are, and where they come from. The robe marks them, but the scene leaves its source to be disclosed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a person’s visible condition tells the whole story of where they come from: the robes can be seen before their origin is known.
THE ROOT
περιβεβλημένοι
peribeblēmenoi
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
To throw or cast; with περί (peri, around), the compound means to cast around, wrap, or clothe.
The word translated “arrayed” is a form of περιβάλλω, carrying the image of something cast around the wearers. The covering is visible, but the elder’s question reaches beyond it to ask where they came from.
ALSO GROWS
epiballō: To throw or lay upon.
ἐπιβάλλω
This compound shows the same root placing something upon a person; here the covering is cast around them.
amphiballō: To cast around, as with a net.
ἀμφιβάλλω
The root can describe something surrounding what it encloses, echoing the robes’ visible encircling of the wearers.
THE PATTERN
A garment can make a changed condition visible while the story of its source remains to be disclosed.
And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.THE THREAD
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.The next verse answers both questions: these people come out of great tribulation, and their robes are washed white in the Lamb’s blood. What verse 13 leaves as a visible covering and an unknown origin, verse 14 opens as a story of arrival and washing.
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