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Revelation 22:19

in Revelation 22

And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city, which are described in this book.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.

KJV

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

This verse in Revelation 22

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

The manuscripts

"Book of life" or "tree of life" — and the missing last page

The KJV's "book of life" at the very end of Revelation is not found in any Greek manuscript; it entered the printed Bible because Erasmus's only copy of Revelation was missing its final leaves and he translated the ending back from Latin. What it changes: No doctrine. The book of life is real, and Scripture teaches it plainly elsewhere: Revelation 3:5, Revelation 20:15, Philippians 4:3, Daniel 12:1.

The manuscripts, and the case each way →

And if any man shall take away from the prophecy of this book,.... As he may be said to do, who denies the authority of this book, which has been done by some, and which the Holy Ghost foresaw; or takes it away from, or denies the reading of it to the people, as the Papists do with respect to the whole Scripture; and who wilfully pervert the sense of it, and will not have the things in it, relating to antichrist, to belong to him.

This site's exposition

shall add unto him the plagues

on Revelation 22:18-19

The warning against adding or taking away echoes Moses' own charge over the law at Deuteronomy 4:2 and Solomon's over wisdom at Proverbs 30:6, and here it is spoken first of this book's own words, the plagues and visions John has just recorded. Add unto these things brings the plagues written in the book upon the offender, and take away from the words brings the loss of his part in the tree of life and the holy city, the same city just described in such detail. The warning guards the prophecy's own text as it stood in John's hand; it is not a verdict on later translation or on the discipline of textual criticism, which the exposition keeps distinct from the sin the verse names.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy - If he shall reject the book altogether; if he shall, in transcribing it, designedly strike any part of it out.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

But A, B, Aleph, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS omit "and"; then "which are written in this book" will refer to "the holy city and the tree of life." As in the beginning of this book (Re 1:3) a blessing was promised to the devout, obedient student of it, so now at its close a curse is denounced against those who add to, or take from, it.

The words behind it

35 Greek words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 22:2

    down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month.…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 22:1

      Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

    • 1 Peter 2:24

      He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

    • Revelation 2:7

      He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the…

    • Ezekiel 47:8–12

      And he said to me, “This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 4:2

    You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 30:6

      Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and prove you a liar.

    • Deuteronomy 12:32

      See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

    • Revelation 22:18–19

      I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

    • Joshua 1:7

      Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that…

Where this verse is studied

About Revelation

The Transfiguration — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
The Transfiguration — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.