What Does Revelation 19:7 Mean?
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give weight to him, for the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.
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
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.THE KEY
The bride is the one who prepares herself: the wedding arrives, and she is already acting within it.
THE MEANING
Joy and honor gather around the Lamb’s arriving union. The bride is not shown as a passive ornament; she makes herself ready, so preparation belongs to the celebration itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The bride is only passive, with readiness done entirely for her.
THE ROOT
ἡτοίμασεν ἑαυτήν
hētoimasen heautēn
GROWS FROM
ἑτοιμαζ-
to prepare, to make ready
“made herself ready” in this verse is hētoimasen heautēn. The verb makes the wife the actor: she prepares herself. The wedding’s arrival and her readiness appear together, with the bride actively taking part in the scene.
ALSO GROWS
hetoimos: ready, prepared
ἕτοιμος
It names the state the bride reaches through preparation.
hetoimasia: preparation, readiness
ἑτοιμασία
It makes readiness a process as well as a condition.
γάμος
gamos
GROWS FROM
γαμ-
marriage, wedding; the Greek word family of marrying
The same word family holds the wedding and the act of marrying together. The verse’s celebration points to union, not only to a ceremony.
ALSO GROWS
gameō: to marry
γαμέω
It names the act of entering marriage, the union at the heart of the wedding.
gamizō: to give in marriage
γαμίζω
It shows another branch of the same family, joining the wedding event to the relationship it marks.
δόξα
doxa
GROWS FROM
δοξ-
honor or glory; the weight of worth made visible
Giving honor gives weight to the Lamb’s worth as the union arrives. Celebration and recognition meet in the same moment.
ALSO GROWS
doxazō: to honor, glorify
δοξάζω
It is the verb form of giving honor, as the verse calls for.
endoxos: honored, glorious
ἔνδοξος
It describes what bears honor or worth, echoing the weight given to the Lamb.
THE PATTERN
The wedding image makes readiness active: union arrives as the bride prepares to meet it.
I will exult greatly in the LORD; my living soul shall leap in my God; for he has clothed me in garments of deliverance, he has wrapped me in the robe of alignment, as a bridegroom dons a headdress, and as a bride binds on her jewels.And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.And I, John, see the set-apart city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, made ready as a bride arranged for her husband.THE THREAD
And I, John, see the set-apart city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, made ready as a bride arranged for her husband.The same Greek root ἑτοιμάζω (hetoimazō, “prepare, make ready”) appears in both passages: here the wife prepares herself; there the city is prepared as a bride. One word family links active readiness with the completed bridal image.
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