What Does Revelation 20:2 Mean?
And he grips the dragon, that ancient serpent, the Slanderer, and the Adversary, and binds him for a thousand years.
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 he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,THE KEY
Four feared titles name one adversary, and the verse’s decisive action is that he is bound.
THE MEANING
The dragon, the ancient serpent, the Slanderer, and the Adversary are one figure here, seized and bound for a thousand years. The scene gives this adversary a real restraint and a defined span; accusation and deception do not occupy the whole horizon.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that the deceiving adversary is limitless: he is seized, bound, and given a span.
THE ROOT
ἔδησεν
edēsen
GROWS FROM
δέω
δέω (deō) means to tie, fasten, or bind.
“binds” in this verse is edēsen. The verb gives “bound” the concrete sense of being fastened under restraint. Its word-family includes a bond, a fetter, and a joining band, so the image is of the adversary held within a limit.
ALSO GROWS
desmos: bond, fetter
δεσμός
The bond makes the restraint tangible: the adversary is held, not merely diminished.
desmōtēs: prisoner, captive
δεσμώτης
This family word shows the state produced by binding: one held within another’s limit.
syndesmos: bond, joining band; ligament
σύνδεσμος
The same word-family can name what binds parts together, preserving the concrete sense of fastening.
Διάβολος
diabolos
GROWS FROM
διαβάλλω
διαβάλλω (diaballō) means to slander or bring accusation.
“the Slanderer” in this verse is diabolos. The title names the figure by slander and accusation. The verse’s chain of names gathers the dragon, serpent, and Adversary under the same accusing figure.
ALSO GROWS
diaballō: to slander, accuse
διαβάλλω
The verb shows the action contained in the title: bringing accusation against another.
diabolē: slander, accusation
διαβολή
The related noun names the accusation itself, clarifying the Slanderer’s role in the verse.
שָׂטָן
śāṭān
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
שָׂטַן (śāṭan) means to oppose or act as an adversary; שָׂטָן names an adversary. The Greek text has ὁ Σατανᾶς (ho Satanas), “the Adversary.”
“Satan” in this verse is śāṭān. This title is a role-name: opposition is what the Adversary does. Paired with the Slanderer, it shows accusation and opposition as two aspects of the one figure being bound.
ALSO GROWS
śāṭan: to oppose, act as an adversary
שָׂטַן
The verb makes the title active: the Adversary is one who opposes.
śiṭnāh: hostility, accusation
שִׂטְנָה
This related noun carries the same consonants and links adversarial opposition with accusation.
THE PATTERN
Deception and opposition appear as a named adversary whose reach is bounded.
Now the serpent was smoother than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, Did God really say, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?And the LORD said to the Adversary, Look, all that he has is in your hand; only toward him do not stretch out your hand. So the Adversary went out from the face of the LORD.And the great dragon is thrown down, that ancient serpent, called the Slanderer and the Adversary, who leads the whole inhabited world astray. He is flung into the earth, and his messengers are thrown down with him.THE THREAD
Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and strip away his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then he will strip his house.Matthew uses the same Greek verb, δέω (deō), for binding the strong man before his house is plundered. The shared verb presents binding as the restraint of a real adversarial power; Revelation gives that restraint a span of a thousand years.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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