What Does Revelation 6:10 Mean?
And they cry out with a great voice, saying, How long, Set-Apart and true Master, will you not judge and avenge our blood against those who settle upon the earth?
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 they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?THE KEY
Their “How long?” is an appeal for the set-apart and true one to make justice visible against shed blood.
THE MEANING
When violence goes unanswered, this verse gives the cry its plain words: “How long?” The slain name God as set apart and true even while judgment is still awaited; their blood remains a claim that demands an answer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A delay in justice does not mean the violence is forgotten or approved; the demand for judgment remains alive.
THE ROOT
ἐκδικεῖς
ekdikeis
GROWS FROM
δικ- (dik-), as in δίκη
Right and justice; to vindicate or make a wrong answerable.
“Avenge” can sound like payback alone, but ἐκδικέω belongs to the language of justice and vindication. The cry asks for shed blood to be answered, not erased.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: right, justice
δίκη
The appeal is rooted in a demand that the wrong be answered with justice.
dikaiosynē: justice, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
This related justice-language brings the cry into the field of what has been violated and must be set right.
κρίνεις
krineis
GROWS FROM
κριν-
krin-
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
“judge” in this verse is krineis. The two verbs name related but distinct parts of the appeal: κρίνω is judgment, while ἐκδικέω is vindication or the answering of a wrong. The cry asks both that the violence be judged and that the blood be avenged.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
It names the judgment the speakers say has not yet come.
kritēs: judge
κριτής
It names the one who makes the decision the cry appeals for.
ἅγιος
hagios
GROWS FROM
ἁγ-
hag-
Set apart.
“Set-Apart” in this verse is hagios. The speakers address the one set apart as they ask for judgment against violence. Here “holy” is part of their appeal: the bloodshed stands in sharp tension with the nature they name.
ALSO GROWS
hagiazō: set apart, consecrate
ἁγιάζω
This verb shows the action carried by the same word-family: setting apart.
hagiasmos: setting apart, holiness
ἁγιασμός
This noun keeps the verse’s description tied to the nature of being set apart.
THE PATTERN
The cry over shed blood persists before God until the wrong is judged and answered.
And the LORD said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.And will God not set his own chosen straight, the ones who cry out to him day and night, though he is slow to heat with them?For true and aligned are his judgments, for he has judged the great harlot, who spoiled the earth with her harlotry, and has avenged the blood of his servants from her hand.THE THREAD
For true and aligned are his judgments, for he has judged the great harlot, who spoiled the earth with her harlotry, and has avenged the blood of his servants from her hand.The answer echoes the petition: the one named true has judged, and the blood of the servants is avenged. Revelation 19:2 names the answer still awaited in Revelation 6:10.
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