Revelation 20:14

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Ron Demler
Posts: 3
Joined: September 20th, 2011, 7:03 pm

Revelation 20:14

Post by Ron Demler »

και ο θανατος και ο αδης εβληθησαν εις την λιμνην του πυρος ουτος ο θανατος ο δευτερος εστιν η λιμνη του πυρος

Most of the fairly literal translations render the verse as:

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

My question is about the second sentence. In the Greek, the "is" (εστιν) is placed between "second death" and "lake of fire", and reads literally: "This, the second death, is the lake of fire." And yet, every single English translation that I've seen says "This is the second death, the lake of fire."

Why is the "is" shifted when translating the Greek into English?
David Lim
Posts: 901
Joined: June 6th, 2011, 6:55 am

Re: Revelation 20:14

Post by David Lim »

Ron Demler wrote:και ο θανατος και ο αδης εβληθησαν εις την λιμνην του πυρος ουτος ο θανατος ο δευτερος εστιν η λιμνη του πυρος

Most of the fairly literal translations render the verse as:

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

My question is about the second sentence. In the Greek, the "is" (εστιν) is placed between "second death" and "lake of fire", and reads literally: "This, the second death, is the lake of fire." And yet, every single English translation that I've seen says "This is the second death, the lake of fire."

Why is the "is" shifted when translating the Greek into English?
The word order in Greek is very flexible, and usually reflect emphasis and rarely difference in meaning. I don't remember seeing "ουτος + noun clause" ever being appositional, is there? From what I know "ουτος" is a determiner and "determiner + noun clause" is the typical construction in which the determiner functions like an adjective (apart from being without an article) and modifies the noun clause. So if that were the case "ουτος ο θανατος ο δευτερος" would mean "this second death", which does not make sense because no "second death" was previously mentioned. Rather, "ουτος ο θανατος ο δευτερος εστιν" has "ουτος" as the subject and "ο θανατος ο δευτερος" as the predicate, which is usually in front of the copulative verb anyway.
δαυιδ λιμ
Ron Demler
Posts: 3
Joined: September 20th, 2011, 7:03 pm

Re: Revelation 20:14

Post by Ron Demler »

David Lim wrote: The word order in Greek is very flexible, and usually reflect emphasis and rarely difference in meaning. I don't remember seeing "ουτος + noun clause" ever being appositional, is there? From what I know "ουτος" is a determiner and "determiner + noun clause" is the typical construction in which the determiner functions like an adjective (apart from being without an article) and modifies the noun clause. So if that were the case "ουτος ο θανατος ο δευτερος" would mean "this second death", which does not make sense because no "second death" was previously mentioned. Rather, "ουτος ο θανατος ο δευτερος εστιν" has "ουτος" as the subject and "ο θανατος ο δευτερος" as the predicate, which is usually in front of the copulative verb anyway.
Thanks David. My Greek knowledge is extremely rudimentary, so I'll need to study more to be able to translate what you just said :)

Does this explanation look right to anyone else?
Mark Lightman
Posts: 300
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 6:30 pm

Re: Revelation 20:14

Post by Mark Lightman »

Rob wanted to know:
Does this explanation look right to anyone else?
Hi, Rob,

Yes, David's explanation is as right as rain.
Ron Demler
Posts: 3
Joined: September 20th, 2011, 7:03 pm

Re: Revelation 20:14

Post by Ron Demler »

Mark Lightman wrote:
Hi, Rob,

Yes, David's explanation is as right as rain.
Great. Thanks for the input!

p.s. it's Ron
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