What Does Revelation 9:17 Mean in the King James?

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

Revelation 9:17 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The horses do not merely carry destruction: their mouths are the outlet through which it proceeds.

THE MEANING

You are shown a vision in which the horses’ mouths release fire, smoke, and brimstone; their lionlike heads sharpen the image of something predatory and terrifying. Destruction is not only visible in the scene: it moves outward from these mouths.

THE ROOT

ἐκπορεύεται

ekporeuetai

GROWS FROM

πορευ-

poreu-

To go or travel; with ⁨ἐκ⁩ (ek), “out,” to go forth or proceed out.

The verb makes the fire, smoke, and brimstone a movement from a source, not merely features of the horses. English “issued” preserves that motion, while the Greek word also connects this image to the wider language of going forth.

ALSO GROWS

poreuomai: Go, travel, or depart.

πορεύομαι

The underlying verb keeps the image in motion: these forces go forth from the mouths.

poreia: A journey or course.

πορεία

This related form carries the same sense of movement along a course, echoing the forces’ outward advance.

THE PATTERN

Fire and brimstone mark destructive judgment as an active force released into the world.

Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Genesis 19:24 · KJVFire and brimstone descend as destructive force, as they emerge from the horses’ mouths in the vision.

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:29 · KJVFire and brimstone again arrive as an outward force that brings destruction.

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

Revelation 9:18 · KJVThe next verse makes explicit that the three forces proceeding from the horses’ mouths bring death.

THE THREAD

Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Matthew 15:11 · KJV

Both verses use the same verb for what proceeds out of a mouth. Matthew names the mouth as the source of what comes outward; here, the vision makes that outward movement fire, smoke, and brimstone.

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