What Does Revelation 5:12 Mean?
Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and weight, and blessing.
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
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.THE KEY
The slaughtered Lamb is named worthy to receive every form of power and honor, with the wound still at the center of his worth.
THE MEANING
The Lamb stands before you bearing the mark of slaughter, and the loud voice names him worthy to receive the full range of power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, weight, and blessing. The verse holds the wound and the highest recognition together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a figure marked by violence cannot bear power, honor, and blessing.
THE ROOT
ἐσφαγμένον
esphagmenon
GROWS FROM
σφαγ- (from σφάζω, sphazō)
To slaughter or cut down violently.
“slaughtered” in this verse is esphagmenon. This word names slaughter, not an unspecified death. Its family also names a sacrificial victim, so the Lamb’s worthiness remains bound to a life violently taken.
ALSO GROWS
sphagē: Slaughter
σφαγή
This noun from the same word family keeps the violence in “slain” explicit.
sphagion: A victim offered in sacrifice
σφάγιον
This branch joins the slaughtered Lamb with the image of a sacrificial victim.
ἄξιος
axios
GROWS FROM
ἀξι-
axi-
Fit, deserving, or corresponding in worth.
“worthy” in this verse is axios. The Lamb is declared fit to receive the whole list. That recognition stands beside “slain,” locating worth in the same figure marked by violence.
ALSO GROWS
axioō: To consider or count worthy
ἀξιόω
This related verb shows worthiness as a judgment of value.
axiōma: Worth, dignity, or authority
ἀξίωμα
This branch connects worth with the honor and authority named in the verse.
δόξαν
doxan
GROWS FROM
δοκ- / δοξ- (dok- / dox-)
Regard or esteem; the standing accorded to someone.
The word rendered “glory” carries the sense of weight here: the Lamb’s acknowledged substance and value. Its word family moves from what is regarded to honoring, so the list voices that weight openly.
ALSO GROWS
dokeō: To think, seem, or regard
δοκέω
This related form points to the regard through which someone is esteemed.
doxazō: To honor or glorify
δοξάζω
This verb expresses the public act of recognizing and giving honor.
THE PATTERN
The one marked by death is named as the recipient of exaltation and honor.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his living soul to death, and was counted with the rebels. He carried the falling short of many, and for the rebels he stepped in.Therefore God also lifted him high, and favored him with a name above every name.But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the messengers for the suffering of death, crowned with weight and honor, so that by the favor of God he might taste death for everyone.THE THREAD
And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to untie its seals, for you were slaughtered and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.This verse repeats the Greek word for “worthy” (ἄξιος, axios) and the slaughter root (σφάζω, sphazō). It gives the reason for the Lamb’s worthiness, then verse 12 widens the response into the full sevenfold declaration.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us