What Does Revelation 19:20 Mean?
And the beast is seized, and with him the false prophet who worked signs before him, by which he led astray those who received the engraving of the beast and those who bow down to his image. These two are thrown alive into a lake of fire burning with sulfur.
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 beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.THE KEY
The verse links a wandering voice to a visible imprint of allegiance: the deceived receive the beast’s mark and bow to its image.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes a false voice whose signs deceive people into receiving the beast’s mark and bowing to its image. It holds the beast and false prophet in the same sentence as their violent judgment: both are seized and thrown alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that spectacular signs prove a voice is trustworthy: here, miracles serve deception, and the false prophet faces judgment.
THE ROOT
χάραγμα
charagma
GROWS FROM
χαράσσω
charassō
To engrave, carve, or mark into a surface.
The mark is an impression made by engraving or stamping, not only a label. The same word family gives χαρακτήρ (charaktēr), meaning an engraved impression or exact imprint, making a linguistic bridge between the beast’s mark and the image people bow to.
ALSO GROWS
charassō: To engrave, carve, or inscribe.
χαράσσω
This verb names the act behind the mark: an impression formed by cutting or marking.
charaktēr: An engraved impression; an exact imprint.
χαρακτήρ
Hebrews uses this related word for the Son as the express image, showing how this word family connects a mark with the impression it bears.
πλανάω
planaō
GROWS FROM
πλαν-
plan-
To wander or stray, and to cause someone to wander off course.
“led astray” in this verse is planaō. The Greek word pictures deception as being led away from one’s course, not merely holding an incorrect idea. The false prophet’s signs carry people into a visible allegiance, joining the wandering voice to the mark they receive.
ALSO GROWS
planē: Wandering, error, or delusion.
πλάνη
It names the state of being carried off course that the false prophet’s deception produces.
planos: A deceiver; one who leads others astray.
πλάνος
This related word makes the deceiver’s role explicit: the voice does not simply err but leads others into error.
THE PATTERN
Signs that pull trust toward a false image can deceive, but their power ends under judgment.
If a prophet stands up in your midst, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us walk after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; You shall not hear and respond to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your living soul.For false anointed ones will rise, and false prophets, and they will give great signs and wonders, so that, if it were possible, even the picked-out ones are led off the path.And the Slanderer, who led them off the path, is thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are. They are tormented day and night for the ages of ages.THE THREAD
Who, being the radiance of his weight and the exact stamp of his foundation, carrying all things by the word of his power, when he had made the cleansing of shortcomings, sat down at the right hand of the Greatness on high.The word for the beast’s mark is χάραγμα (charagma), meaning an engraved mark or stamp; Hebrews’ “express image” is χαρακτήρ (charaktēr), meaning an exact imprint, from the same word family. This shared language connects the mark people receive with the imprint Hebrews uses to describe the Son.
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