Revelation 20 · Verse 13

Revelation 20:13

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Revelation 20:13, King James Version

Revelation 20:13 in other translations

BSB	The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds.
WEB	The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.
ASV	And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
YLT	and the sea did give up those dead in it, and the death and the hades did give up the dead in them, and they were judged, each one according to their works;
DARBY	And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged each according to their works:
BBE	And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hell gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man by his works.
Webster	And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

What does Revelation 20:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

13. death and hell--Greek, "Hades." The essential identity of the dying and risen body is hereby shown; for the sea and grave give up their dead. The body that sinned or served God shall, in righteous retribution, be the body also that shall suffer or be rewarded. The "sea" may have a symbolical [Cluver from Augustine], besides the literal meaning, as, in Re 8:8; 12:12; 13:1; 18:17, 19; so "death" and "hell" are personifications (compare Re 21:1). But the literal sense need hardly be departed from: all the different regions wherein the bodies and souls of men had been, gave them up.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. All that had been buried in the depths of oceans. This number in the aggregate will be great. If we include all who were swept off by the flood, and all who have perished by shipwreck, and all who have been killed in naval battles and buried in the sea, and all who have been swept away by inundations of the ocean, and all who have peacefully died at sea, as sailors, or in the pursuits of commerce or benevolence, the number in the aggregate will be immense--a number so vast that it was proper to notice them particularly in the account of the general resurrection and the last judgment.

And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. That is, all the dead came, from all regions where they were scattered--on the land and in the ocean--in this world and in the invisible world. "Death and hell" are here personified, and are represented as having dominion over the dead, and as now delivering up, or surrendering those who were held under them. On the meaning of the words here used, Rev 1:18; Rev 6:8. Compare Mt 10:23; Job 10:21; Job 10:22; Isa 14:9. This whole representation is entirely inconsistent with the supposition that a large part of the dead had been already raised up at the beginning of the millennial period, and had been permitted, in their glorified bodies, to reign with Christ.

And they were judged, etc. All these were judged--the righteous and the wicked; those buried at sea, and those buried on the land; the small and the great; the dead, in whatever world they may have been.

(1) "hell" "the grave"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 13 The sea gave up the dead - Those who had been drowned in it, and those millions slain in naval contests, who had no other grave. And death - All who died by any kind of disease. Death is here personified, and represented as a keeper of defunct human beings; probably no more than earth or the grave is meant, as properly belonging to the empire of death. And hell - Ἁιδης, Hades, the place of separate spirits. The sea and death have the bodies of all human beings; hades has their spirits. That they may be judged, and punished or rewarded according to their works, their bodies and souls must be reunited; hades, therefore, gives up the spirits; and the sea and the earth give up the bodies.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Revelation 20:11-15

After the events just foretold, the end will speedily come; and there is no mention of any thing else, before the appearing of Christ to judge the world. This will be the great day: the Judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, will then put on majesty and terror. The persons to be judged are the dead, small and great; young and old, low and high, poor and rich. None are so mean, but they have some talents to account for; and…

Read the full comment on Revelation 20:11-15 →

Revelation 20:13 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

καὶkaiAndG2532

ἔδωκενedōkengave upG1325

ἡhētheG3588

θάλασσαthalassaseaG2281

τοὺςtoustheG3588

νεκροὺςnekrousdeadG3498

τοὺςtouswho wereG3588

ἐνeninG1722

αὐτῇ,autēaher,G846

καὶkaiandG2532

ὁho<the>G3588

θάνατοςthanatosDeathG2288

καὶkaiandG2532

ὁho<the>G3588

ᾅδηςhadēsHadesG86

ἔδωκανedōkangave upG1325

τοὺςtoustheG3588

νεκροὺςnekrousdeadG3498

τοὺςtouswho wereG3588

ἐνeninG1722

αὐτοῖς,autoisthem,G846

καὶkaiandG2532

ἐκρίθησανekrithēsanthey were judgedG2919

ἕκαστοςhekastoseach [of them]G1538

κατὰkataaccording toG2596

τὰtatheG3588

ἔργαergaworksG2041

αὐτῶν.autōnof them.G846

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Revelation 20:13

John 5:28-29
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Hosea 13:14
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
Revelation 20:14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Isaiah 26:19
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. …
Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the sea.
Joh 5:28,29
and death.
14; 6:8; Ho 13:14; 1Co 15:50-58
hell. or, the grave.
1Co 15:55; *marg:
and they.
12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 20:13
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Revelation 20:14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Read all of Revelation 20

Revelation 20:13 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y el mar dió los muertos que estaban en él; y la muerte y el infierno dieron los muertos que estaban en ellos; y fué hecho juicio de cada uno según sus obras.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et la mer rendit les morts qui étaient en elle; et la mort et le hadès rendirent les morts qui étaient en eux, et ils furent jugés chacun selon leurs œuvres.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und das Meer gab die Toten, die in ihm waren, und der Tod und der Hades gaben die Toten, die in ihnen waren, und sie wurden gerichtet, ein jeder nach seinen Werken.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	et dedit mare mortuos, qui in eo erant: et mors et infernus dederunt mortuos suos, qui in ipsis erant: et judicatum est de singulis secundum opera ipsorum.