Revelation 20:14
in Revelation 20Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.
KJV
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
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This verse in Revelation 20
Commentary
15 notes on this verseIt is right for us to be afraid of the second death, that which is full of weeping and gnashing of teeth and of groanings and miseries, that which is situated in outer darkness. But blessed shall be the faithful and the righteous in that resurrection, in which they expect to be awakened and to receive the good promises made them. But as for the wicked who are not faithful, in the resurrection woe to them, because of that which is laid up for them!
This site's exposition
The sea gave up its dead
on Revelation 20:13-15
The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, so every holding place of the dead surrenders its charge. Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire, the last enemy of 1 Corinthians 15:26, and this is the second death of 2:11.
This site's exposition
Death and Hades were thrown
John Wesley reads the casting of Death and Hades as their end, so soul and body are never parted, for the righteous or the wicked. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that the saints will never again exist as disembodied spirits. Aphrahat tells his hearers to fear this death.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
In this verse, "hell and death" stand for the devil (together with the entirety of his followers) inasmuch as he is the author of death and of the torments of hell.
There is also a total death for a person, a death of body and soul, namely, when a soul, abandoned by God, abandons the body. In this case, the soul has no life from God and the body no life from the soul. The consequence of such total death is the second death, so called on the authority of divine Revelation. This is the death that our Savior meant when he said, "Be afraid of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."Since this second death does not occur until soul and body are reunited, never to be separated again, you might wonder how the body is said to die by a death in which it is not deserted by the soul but rather is given a life by the soul to feel the torment it endures. For in a person's last and everlasting punishment the soul is rightly said to be dead when its life from God is gone, but, since the body's life depends on the soul, how can the body be said to be dead? If the body were dead, it could not feel the bodily torments that are to be felt after the resurrection. It is because life of every kind is good, and pain is evil, that we decline to say that that body lives, in which the soul is the cause, not of life, but of pain? The soul, then, lives by God when it lives well, for it cannot live well unless God is the cause of its good works. The body, however, takes its life from the soul when the soul is alive in the body, whether the soul is receiving any life from God or not.… It is true that when a person is finally damned, he does not lose sensation; nevertheless, because his feelings are not gentle enough to give pleasure nor soothing enough to be restful but are purifying to the point of pain, they can more properly be called death rather than life. […]
This is to show that since death has been overtaken no one will die again. Moreover, since the nether region has been condemned, hell will find no one further whom it might receive.
And Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, this is the second death. And Death and Hades, he says, were cast into the lake of fire; that is, the death and the immortal and incorporeal life of souls in the manner of …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Death and hades are thrown into the lake of fire. This shows either that "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" or that the evil powers who are the friends of the death caused by sin and who have their abode in hades and …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
QUESTION: And death and hell were cast into the pool of fire, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life. ANSWER: That is, whosoever was not judged by God as being alive. Whence it seems to me that the right interpretation for …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire - That is, were abolished forever; for neither the righteous nor the wicked were to die any more: their souls and bodies were no more to be separated.
This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. The utter destruction of the devil's kingdom very properly leads to an account of the day of judgment, which will determine every man's everlasting state; and we may be assured there will be a judgment when we see the prince of this world is judged, John xvi.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Death and Hades, as personified representatives of the enemies of Christ' and His Church, are said to be cast into the lake of fire to express the truth that Christ and His people shall never more die, or be in the state of disembodied spirits. This is the second death--"the lake of fire" is added in A, B, and ANDREAS.
And death and hell were cast into the lake - Death himself is now abolished, and the place for separate spirits no longer needful. All dead bodies and separated souls being rejoined, and no more separation of bodies and souls by death to take place, consequently the existence of these things is no farther necessary.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire - Death and Hades (hell) are here personified, as they are in the previous verse. The declaration is equivalent to the statement in 1Co 15:26; “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” See the notes on that passage. The idea is, that death, considered as the separation of soul and body, with all the attendant woes, will exist no more. The righteous will live forever, and the wicked will linger on in a state never to be terminated by death. The reign of Death and Hades, as such, would come to an end, and a new order of things would commence where this would be unknown. There might be what would be properly called death, but it would not be death in this form; the soul would live forever, but it would not be in that condition represented by the word ᾅδης hadēs - “hades.” There would be “death” still, but a “second death differs from the first, in the fact that it is not a separation of the soul and body, but a state of “continual agony” like what the first death inflicts - like that in intensity, but not in kind” (Prof. Stuart). This is the second death - That is, this whole process here described - the condemnation, and the final death and ruin of those whose names are “not found written in the book of life” - properly constitutes the second death. This proves that when it is said that “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire,” it cannot be meant that all punishment will cease forever, and that all will be saved, for the writer goes on to describe what he calls “the second death” as still existing. See Rev 20:15. […]
The words behind it
22 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θάνατος | thanatos | Death | G2288 → | 120 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ᾅδης | hades | Hades | G86 → | 10 times |
| ἐβλήθησαν | eblethesan | were cast | G906 → | 121 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| λίμνην | limnen | lake | G3041 → | 11 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πυρός· | puros | of fire; | G4442 → | 70 times |
| οὗτος | houtos | This | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ὁ | ho | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θάνατος | thanatos | death | G2288 → | 120 times |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δεύτερός | deuteros | second | G1208 → | 43 times |
| ἐστιν | estin | is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| ἡ | he | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| λίμνη | limne | lake | G3041 → | 11 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πυρός. | puros | of fire. | G4442 → | 70 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
θάνατοςDeath
thanatosG2288 →120 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
ᾅδηςHades
hadesG86 →10 times
ἐβλήθησανwere cast
eblethesanG906 →121 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
λίμνηνlake
limnenG3041 →11 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
πυρός·of fire;
purosG4442 →70 times
οὗτοςThis
houtosG3778 →1381 times
ὁthe
hoG3588 →19766 times
θάνατοςdeath
thanatosG2288 →120 times
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
δεύτερόςsecond
deuterosG1208 →43 times
ἐστινis
estinG1510 →2333 times
ἡthe
heG3588 →19766 times
λίμνηlake
limneG3041 →11 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
πυρός.of fire.
purosG4442 →70 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
it leads to
- Revelation 2:11
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Ephesians 5:5–6
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Revelation 20:14–15
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
- Revelation 2:11
Through
Revelation 1:18the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
it leads to
- Romans 6:9
For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.
- Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
- Romans 14:8–9
If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
- Romans 6:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies21
On this verse
About Revelation
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alcuin of York, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MANUAL ON REVELATION; Andreas of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20:14-15; Aphrahat the Persian Sage, DEMONSTRATIONS 8.19; Apringius of Beja, TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 20:14; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 20.15; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 13.2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation.