What Does Revelation 22:12 Mean?
Look, I come swiftly, and my wages are with me, to give back to each one as his work will be.
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, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.THE KEY
The one who comes already carries the recompense: arrival and the answering of each person’s work belong to the same moment.
THE MEANING
The coming one arrives with recompense already with him. Each person receives in relation to their own work, so what is done has weight in the outcome. Nothing is detached from the one who comes or from the work that is seen.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what you do disappears without consequence is undone: the verse joins each person’s work to its corresponding return.
THE ROOT
μισθός
misthos
GROWS FROM
μισθ-
misth-
Wage, hire, or payment.
The word for “reward” also belongs to the language of wages and recompense. The verse presents this recompense as already with the one who comes, then relates it to each person’s work.
ALSO GROWS
misthoō: Hire for wages.
μισθόω
This verb shows the wage sense within the same word family.
misthios: A hired worker or servant.
μίσθιος
The worker and the recompense share the same word family, bringing the verse’s pairing of work and reward into view.
ἔργον
ergon
GROWS FROM
ἐργ-
erg-
Work, deed, or action.
“His work” is singular in Greek: each person’s own work is named as the measure. The word family links the deed to the person doing it, keeping the reckoning specific rather than interchangeable.
ALSO GROWS
ergazomai: Work, do, or accomplish.
ἐργάζομαι
This verb shows the same root as ongoing activity, not only a finished deed.
ergatēs: Worker or laborer.
ἐργάτης
This word names the person by the work they do, echoing the verse’s link between each person and their work.
ἀποδοῦναι
apodounai
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-, give) in ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi)
The base δίδωμι (didōmi) means give; the prefix ἀπό (apo) contributes a sense of back or return, forming “render” or “repay.”
“give back to each one” in this verse is apodounai. The English “give” carries the fuller sense of rendering or giving back. That shade connects the reward with the work each person has done: the coming one gives what answers to it.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: Give or grant.
δίδωμι
This is the giving word at the base of the verse’s compound verb.
apodidōmi: Give back, render, or repay.
ἀποδίδωμι
This is the verb used here, giving “to give” the sense of a return.
antapodidōmi: Repay in return.
ἀνταποδίδωμι
This related compound makes explicit the return already carried by the verb family.
THE PATTERN
When the divine arrival is pictured, recompense accompanies it and answers to each person’s work.
Look, Lord LORD comes with a strong hand, and his arm rules for him. Look, his wages are with him, and his work goes before him.For the Son of Man will come in the weight of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will repay each one according to his deed.The one who plants and the one who gives to drink are one, and each one will take his own wage according to his own toil.THE THREAD
For the Son of Man will come in the weight of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will repay each one according to his deed.“Reward” here translates ἀποδώσει (apodōsei), a form of the same verb ἀποδίδωμι (apodidōmi, render or repay) used in Revelation 22:12. Both verses tie the coming one’s arrival to a return given in relation to each person’s work.
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