What Does Revelation 9:6 Mean in the King James?

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Revelation 9:6 · 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.

THE KEY

The verse turns death from the escape a person seeks into the fugitive that escapes them.

THE MEANING

Here, anguish makes death feel like the only exit, yet death remains beyond reach and seems to flee from the person seeking it. The verse holds the terror of wanting an end and finding none, without smoothing either side of the paradox.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that death is an ending suffering can reach at will: here, the sought ending itself escapes.

THE ROOT

φεύξεται

pheuxetai

GROWS FROM

φευγ-

to flee, run away, escape

“flee” in this verse is pheuxetai. The verb makes death the one in motion: it is not simply absent, but flees from those seeking it. The Greek word-family preserves that image in words for flight and fugitive, sharpening the verse’s reversal.

ALSO GROWS

phygē: Flight or escape

φυγή

The noun names flight itself, echoing death’s movement away from the person seeking it.

phygas: A fugitive, one who flees

φυγάς

The verse flips the expected direction: death is cast as the one fleeing.

THE PATTERN

In crushing distress, death can appear as a desired exit when life feels unbearable.

Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

Job 3:21 · KJVThe longing for death is explicit, yet the verse says it does not come.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

1 Kings 19:4 · KJVExhaustion reaches the point where death becomes the requested end.

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

2 Corinthians 1:8 · KJVThe pressure becomes so severe that even life feels beyond hope.

THE THREAD

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

1 Corinthians 15:55 · KJV

Both verses name death with the Greek word ⁨θάνατος⁩ (thanatos). Revelation pictures death fleeing from those who seek it; here, death itself is addressed and its power challenged.

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