Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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the death and the underworld gave (up) the dead people, the ones in them, and they
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were judged, each one according to their works. 20.14 And the death and the
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(...continued)
passage as implying the destruction of the physical universe, but that is far from John's intention,
for the events of the sixth seal give place to the inauguration of the kingdom of Christ in
power and glory on the earth." (Pp. 300-301)
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Literally, "the death."
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Aune notes that “Death and hades are often equated...and the pair are personified
four times in Revelation (1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14)...They are always in this order, suggesting that
‘death’ is considered the ruler over the realm of ‘hades.’ The final elimination of death is mentioned
in Revelation 21:4 and 1 Corinthians 15:26. The phrase ‘death and hades gave up
the dead in them’ is problematic, for it is unlikely that the author conceives of death and hades
as two separate entities.” (P. 1102)
We see no indication that death is here being considered the ruler over the underworld.
And we see no problem in John’s statement, since we not expect exact, precise consistency,
but rather, recognize the enigmatic, puzzling nature of John’s visions, not expecting complete
consistency or clarity. What do you think?
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The third person plural aorist verb äùêáí, edokan, “they gave (up),” is changed to
the third person singular, ev ,dwken, edoken, “it gave (up),” by Alexandrinus and a few other
Greek manuscripts. This variant is grammatically incorrect, since the verb has a two-fold subject.
Perhaps the copyist took the two nouns to be referring to a singular subject; however, the
variant reading does not change the meaning of Revelation.
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The phrase íåêñïò ôïò í áôïò, nekrous tous en autois, “dead people, the
ones in them,” is changed to read í áôïò íåêñïò, “in them, dead people,” by Uncial Manuscript
051, Minuscules 1854, 2030 and the “Majority Text” (A). The variant does not change
the meaning of Revelation.
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The aorist passive verb êñßèçóáí, ekrithesan, “they were judged,” is changed to
the prefixed verb katekri,qhsan, katekrithesan, perhaps implying “they were condemned,” by
Sinaiticus. The variant reading does not change the meaning of Revelation, but once again
demonstrates the freedom felt by copyists to slightly “editorialize” the text being copied.
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The genitive plural personal pronoun áôí, auton, “their,” is changed to the genitive
singular form of the pronoun auvtou/, autou, “his,” by the “Majority Text” (K) and some
manuscripts of the Sahidic Coptic. We think this variant reading is in the form of a grammatical
correction of the original text, in which the antecedent of the pronoun is the singular
e`,kastoj, hekastos, “each one.”
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