What Does Revelation 16:10 Mean?
The fifth messenger pours out his bowl upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom is darkened, and they gnaw their tongues for the ache.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,THE KEY
When the beast’s seat is struck, darkness spreads through its whole kingdom until even the tongue, the instrument of speech, becomes a site of pain.
THE MEANING
You are placed inside a realm where the beast’s seat is struck, its kingdom darkens, and its people gnaw their tongues from pain. The darkness reaches beyond the seat of power into the bodies of those living under it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that striking a seat of power leaves the rest of its dominion untouched: the darkness reaches through the kingdom and into its people.
THE ROOT
ἐσκοτωμένη
eskotōmenē
GROWS FROM
σκοτ-
skot-
Darkness; becoming or making dark.
The Greek form describes the kingdom as darkened, while the KJV renders the result as being full of darkness. The shared skot- root holds the state of darkness together with the act of darkening: the kingdom itself is changed, and the darkness fills its reach.
ALSO GROWS
skotia: Darkness
σκοτία
This noun names the same darkness that now fills the beast’s kingdom.
skotoō: To darken
σκοτόω
This verb makes visible the change expressed here: the kingdom becomes dark.
skotizō: To darken or obscure
σκοτίζω
This related verb keeps the focus on darkness as something that overtakes and obscures a realm.
THE PATTERN
Judgment is pictured as darkness that overtakes a realm and becomes felt in bodies.
And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and let there be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that can be felt.But the children of the governance will be thrown out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.And he opens the bottomless pit, and smoke rises out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air are darkened by the smoke of the pit.THE THREAD
And he opens the bottomless pit, and smoke rises out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air are darkened by the smoke of the pit.The Greek word for “darkened” here belongs to the same σκοτ- (skot-) word family as the darkened kingdom in Revelation 16:10. In both visions, darkness spreads from its source until it overtakes an entire realm.
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