Revelation 20:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
a traducer · adjective — nominative singular masculine
deceived
πλανῶνplanōn
G4105
to (properly · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
them
αὐτοὺςautous
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative plural masculine
cast
ἐβλήθηeblēthē
G906
to throw (in various applications · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
lake
λίμνηνlimnēn
G3041
a pond (large or small) · noun — accusative singular feminine
fire
πυρὸςpuros
G4442
"fire" (literally or figuratively · noun — genitive singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
brimstone
θείουtheiou
G2303
sulphur · noun — genitive singular neuter
where
ὅπουhopou
G3699
what(-ever) where · preposition
beast
θηρίονthērion
G2342
a dangerous animal · noun — nominative singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
prophet
ψευδοπροφήτης,pseudoprophētēs
G5578
a spurious prophet · noun — nominative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
tormented
βασανισθήσονταιbasanisthēsontai
G928
to torture · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person plural
day
ἡμέραςhēmeras
G2250
day · noun — genitive singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
night
νυκτὸςnuktos
G3571
"night" (literally or figuratively) · noun — genitive singular feminine
for
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
ever
αἰῶναςaiōnas
G165
properly · noun — accusative plural masculine
ever
αἰώνων.¶aiōnōn
G165
properly · noun — genitive plural masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the…
Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Revelation 20:2-3 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Revelation 20:14-15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Revelation 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the n…
Revelation 14:10-11 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be t…
Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 20:1-10
We have here, I. A prophecy of the binding of Satan for a certain term of time, in which he should have much less power and the church much more peace than before. The power of Satan was broken in part by the setting up of the gospel kingdom in the world; it was further reduced by the empire's becoming Christian; it was yet further broken by the downfall of the mystical Babylon; but still this serpent had many heads, and, when one is wounded, another has life remaining in it. Here we have a further limitation and diminution of his power. Observe, 1. To whom this work of binding Satan is committed - to an angel from heaven. It is very probable that this angel is no other than the Lord Jesus C…
that deceived--Greek, "that deceiveth."
lake of fire--his final doom: as "the bottomless pit" (Rev 20:1) was his temporary prison.
where--so Coptic. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "where also."
the beast and the false prophet are-- (Rev 19:20).
day and night--figurative for without intermission (Rev 22:5), such as now is caused by night interposing between day and day. The same phrase is used of the external state of the blessed (Rev 4:8). As the bliss of these is eternal, so the woe of Satan and the lost must be. As the beast and the false prophet led the former conspiracy against Christ and His people, so Satan in person heads the last conspiracy. Satan shall not be permitted…
And the devil - was cast onto the lake - Before Satan was bound, that is, his power was curtailed and restrained; now, he is cast into the lake of fire, his power being totally taken away.
John Gill on Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them,.... Both before death, in the present life, by tempting and drawing them into immorality and profaneness, or idolatry, superstition, and will worship, or persecution of the saints; and after their resurrection, by instigating them to make this foolish attempt upon the saints of the most High:
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; the same with the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; this will be his full torment, in which he is not as yet; and this will not be until the judgment is finished hereafter described; though it is here mentioned to issue the account of Satan at once, and to show what will be his final state and conditi…
The Church Fathers
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, etc. That is, the devil will be cast into the eternal fire at the final judgment, where all whom he has led will also go, that is, the majority of the impious city. For the beast should be understood according to the context: sometimes it means the devil, sometimes the Antichrist, sometimes the very impious city. The name of the fire descending from heaven can also signify the sudden destruction of the wicked when the Lord comes and will slay the Antichrist with the breath of His mouth (2 Thess. 2). He explains more fully how, when Christ judges, the devil with his followers is cast into the fire.
And the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the False Prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Let the reader know that the present Revelation has handed down to us three things in the foregoing: first, the original evil Dragon shown in heaven; second, a beast rising from the sea, whom we understood to be second in command to Satan, but superior to the other demons; and third, the Antichrist, whom he also calls the False Prophet. But concerning the second, the Devil, and the Antichrist it was said a little above (Rev. 19:20) that the two were thrown into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Now concerning Satan, or rather the Devil, whom in the preceding passages he named the Dragon, he says that they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Therefore, the one who met the vision perceived very precisely that the thousand years, during which the Devil was bound and cast into the abyss and then released, we understood to be the Lord's dominion and his reign on earth, in which the Devil's activity was suspended for a short time. For now he has shown that their punishment and that of those deceived by him is not for a thousand years, and that, far from being a release from evil, it is for ever and ever.
John goes on to state succinctly the full punishment that is to be meted out in the last judgment to the hostile city and its prince, the devil.… Why has the church been so intolerant with those who defend the view that, however greatly and however long the devil is to be punished, he can be promised ultimately that all will be purged or pardoned? Certainly it is not because so many of the church's saints and biblical scholars have begrudged the devil and his angels a final cleansing and the beatitude of the kingdom of heaven. Nor is it because of any lack of feeling for so many and such high angels that must suffer such great and enduring pain. This is not a matter of feeling but of fact. The fact is that there is no way of waiving or weakening the words that the Lord has told us that he will pronounce in the last judgment: "Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels." In this way he showed plainly that it is an eternal fire in which the devil and his angels are to burn. Then we have the words of the Apocalypse: "and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." In the one text we have "everlasting," in the other, "forever and ever." These are words that have a single meaning in the divine Scripture, namely, of unending duration.
Dictionary and topics
Brimstone — An inflammable mineral substance found in quantities on the shores of the Dead Sea. The cities of the plain were destroyed by a rain of fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24, 25). In Isa. 34:9 allusion is…
Antichrist · To be — To be
Devil, The · Shall be condemned at the judgment — Shall be condemned at the judgment
Hell · Punishment of, is eternal — Punishment of, is eternal
Lake · Of fire — Of fire
Millennium · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
they will be tormented . . . forever: Rebellion against God has eternal consequences. While the concept of unending punishment repulses some, it is the message of Revelation and of Scripture generally that God will deal sternly with sin and rebellion by those who reject Christ’s saving work (see Matt 13:42; 25:41-46; John 3:18, 36; Rom 2:7). Perhaps more than any book in Scripture, Revelation illustrates that the unrepentant persist in their rebellion despite the consequences (Rev 9:20-21; 16:9-11; cp. Luke 16:31). Revelation also emphasizes that God is just and deals with sin as it deserves.
