What Does Revelation 22:17 Mean?
And the Breath and the bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who thirsts come. Let whoever wills take the waters of life as a gift.
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 Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.THE KEY
Life is offered as water: the thirsty come and take it freely, as a gift.
THE MEANING
The breath and the bride say, “Come,” and the one who hears joins the invitation. Thirst is met with welcome: whoever desires may come and take the water of life freely.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that life is available only to those who can pay for it or prove their worth: the thirsty are invited to take it freely.
THE ROOT
δωρεάν
dōrean
GROWS FROM
δωρε-
Gift, giving; as a gift or without payment.
“as a gift” in this verse is dōrean. The word translated “freely” belongs to the language of gifts. The invitation presents life as something given to be received, not something the thirsty person has to purchase.
ALSO GROWS
dōrea: A gift or grant.
δωρεά
It makes explicit the giving carried in “freely.”
dōron: A gift or present.
δῶρον
This related gift-word echoes the verse’s picture of life as something given.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνευ-
Blowing or breathing.
The word rendered “Spirit” is pneuma, a word that also carries the sense of breath and wind. Its voice in the verse is joined with the bride’s in saying “Come,” so the invitation sounds through breath and speech.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: To blow or breathe.
πνέω
This verb shares the breath-and-wind sense carried by pneuma.
pnoē: Breath or blowing.
πνοή
This related noun makes the breathing sense of pneuma audible.
ζωή
zōē
GROWS FROM
ζω-
Living, being alive.
The water is described as water of life: what is received is livingness, not merely a drink. The related word-family holds life as something active and life-giving.
ALSO GROWS
zaō: To live, be alive.
ζάω
The verb gives the living sense carried in the noun ζωή.
zōopoieō: To make alive, give life.
ζωοποιέω
This related verb brings out life as something that can be imparted.
THE PATTERN
The thirsty are invited to come and receive water that is given without price.
Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and whoever has no silver, come, break open and eat. Yes, come, break open wine and milk, without silver and without price.On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.And he says to me, It has come to be. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who thirsts I will give from the spring of the waters of life, as a gift.THE THREAD
And he says to me, It has come to be. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who thirsts I will give from the spring of the waters of life, as a gift.The phrase “water of life” and the word “freely” recur in both verses. Here the invitation to take is illuminated by the promise to give: the thirsty receive life as a gift.
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