What Does Revelation 6:2 Mean?
And I see, and look, a white horse, and the one seated upon it holds a bow, and a crown is given to him, and he goes out conquering and to conquer.
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 I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.THE KEY
The rider’s crown is received, but his conquest is already underway, and aimed at more.
THE MEANING
The vision places a bow and a given crown on a rider whose advance is already prevailing. Yet the sentence turns that victory forward: he goes out conquering with further conquest in view. The giver of the crown and the rider’s identity remain unstated here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the assumption that a crowned victor must be self-authorized: this crown is given, and the giver is left unnamed.
THE ROOT
νικῶν
nikōn
GROWS FROM
νικ-
nik-
to prevail, win, or conquer
“conquering / to conquer” in this verse is nikōn. Both forms come from the same verb, νικάω (nikaō, “to conquer”): one presents conquest in progress, and the other points toward further conquest. English makes them sound like two descriptions; Greek ties the rider’s present momentum to what he goes out to do.
ALSO GROWS
nikē: victory
νίκη
The noun names the victory that belongs to the same word family as the rider’s conquering.
nikētēs: victor, conqueror
νικητής
This word names the one who prevails, bringing the rider’s action and its agent into the same root family.
ἐδόθη
edothē
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω- (do-/dō-), from δίδωμι (didōmi)
to give or grant
“was given” in this verse is edothē. The verb is passive: the crown reaches the rider as something given, while no giver is named in this verse. The wording marks bestowed possession without explaining where the authority originates.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: giving, gift
δόσις
The related noun keeps the focus on the act of giving behind what the rider receives.
dōron: gift
δῶρον
This related word makes visible the gift-like quality of what is given, without identifying its giver.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents authority as something received, including when it is exercised against others.
After this I saw, and look, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird. The living one also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.Jesus answered, You would have no authority at all against me, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has a greater shortcoming.And it is given to him to fight with the set-apart ones and to overcome them, and authority is given to him over every kindred, and tongue, and nation.THE THREAD
And it is given to him to fight with the set-apart ones and to overcome them, and authority is given to him over every kindred, and tongue, and nation.The same Greek verbs for giving and conquering return: authority is granted, and conquest follows. This later verse makes the violence explicit, while leaving the identity of Revelation 6’s rider unresolved.
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