21:5 And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then 1 he said to me, “Write it down, 2 because these words are reliable 3 and true.” 21:6 He also said to me, “It is done! 4 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water 5 free of charge 6 from the spring of the water of life. 21:7 The one who conquers 7 will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, 8 idol worshipers, 9 and all those who lie, their place 10 will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. 11 That 12 is the second death.”
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
2 tn The words “it down” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
3 tn Grk “faithful.”
4 tn Or “It has happened.”
5 tn The word “water” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
6 tn Or “as a free gift” (see L&N 57.85).
7 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”
8 tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”
9 tn Grk “idolaters.”
10 tn Grk “their share.”
11 tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”
12 tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”