The Meaning of Revelation 6:14 Explained

Revelation 6:14

KJV: And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

YLT: and heaven departed as a scroll rolled up, and every mountain and island -- out of their places they were moved;

Darby: And the heaven was removed as a book rolled up, and every mountain and island were removed out of their places.

ASV: And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  the heaven  departed  as  a scroll  when it is rolled together;  and  every  mountain  and  island  were moved  out of  their  places. 

What does Revelation 6:14 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Evidently the sky will appear to split and roll back in two opposite directions (cf. Isaiah 34:4). [1] The universe will seem to be coming apart. Apparently the opening of the sky will give earth-dwellers a glimpse into the throne-room of heaven ( Revelation 6:16). Probably the earthquake ( Revelation 6:12) will cause mountains and islands to rise and fall (cf. Nahum 1:6).

Context Summary

Revelation 6:9-17 - "the Wrath Of The Lamb"
This imagery is very majestic; but we cannot really think that the holy martyrs desire to be revenged, except in love and grace. That their persecutors should be forgiven in Pentecosts of revival must be the highest conception of vengeance that they permit themselves to have. The striking command that they should rest, each enclothed in a white robe of acceptance and purity, until the full roll of martyrs is complete, suggests that every age must yield its tale of those who love not their lives unto the death, because they love the Master so much more. We, too, have our daily martyrdoms, for it may be harder to live for Jesus always against continued opposition and scorn than to die once for Him.
Revelation 9:1-21; Revelation 10:1-11 answer to Matthew 24:6-7. Revelation 12:1-17; Revelation 17:1-18 to Matthew 24:29-30. Probably the words here refer, not to the final judgment, but to those revolutionary changes which always accompany the closing of one era and the opening of another; Hebrews 12:26-27. [source]

Chapter Summary: Revelation 6

1  The First Seal: Rider on White Horse
3  The Second Seal: War
5  The Third Seal: Famine
7  The Fourth Seal: Death
9  The Fifth Seal: Martyrs
12  The Sixth Seal: Terror

Greek Commentary for Revelation 6:14

Was removed [απεχωριστη]
First aorist passive indicative of αποχωριζω — apochōrizō to separate, to part (Acts 15:39). “The heaven was parted.” [source]
As a scroll when it is rolled up [ως βιβλιον ελισσομενον]
Present passive participle of ελισσω — helissō old verb, to roll up, in N.T. only here (from Isaiah 34:4) and Hebrews 1:12 (from Psalm 102:27). Vivid picture of the expanse of the sky rolled up and away as a papyrus roll (Luke 4:17).Were moved (εκινητησαν — ekinēthēsan). First aorist passive indicative of κινεω — kineō to move.Out of their places See also Revelation 16:20 for these violent displacements in the earth‘s crust. Cf. Nahum 1:5; Jeremiah 4:24. Jesus spoke of faith removing mountains (of difficulty) as in Mark 11:23 (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:2). [source]
Were moved [εκινητησαν]
First aorist passive indicative of κινεω — kineō to move. [source]
Out of their places [εκ των τοπων αυτων]
See also Revelation 16:20 for these violent displacements in the earth‘s crust. Cf. Nahum 1:5; Jeremiah 4:24. Jesus spoke of faith removing mountains (of difficulty) as in Mark 11:23 (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:2). [source]
Departed [ἀπεχωρισθη]
The verb means to separate, sever. Rev., was removed. [source]
Scroll [βιβλίον]
See on Luke 4:17. Compare Isaiah 34:4. [source]
Mountain and island []
Compare Matthew 24:35; Nahum 1:5. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 6:14

Luke 4:17 Opened [ἀναπτύξας]
Lit., unrolled. Both this and the simple verb πτύσσω , to close (Luke 4:20), occur only once in the New Testament. The former word was used in medical language of the opening out of various parts of the body, and the latter of the rolling up of bandages. The use of these terms by Luke the physician is the more significant from the fact that elsewhere in the New Testament ἀνοίγω is used for the opening of a book (Revelation 5:2-5; Revelation 10:2, Revelation 10:8; Revelation 20:12); and εἰλίσσω , for rolling it up (Revelation 6:14). [source]
Hebrews 1:12 A mantle [περιβολαιον]
Old word for covering from παριβαλλω — pariballō to fling around, as a veil in 1 Corinthians 11:15, nowhere else in N.T. Shalt thou roll up Future active of ελισσω — helissō late form for ειλισσω — heilissō in N.T. only here and Revelation 6:14, to fold together. As a garment lxx repeats from Hebrews 1:11. They shall be changed Second future passive of αλλασσω — allassō old verb, to change. Shall not fail Future active of εκλειπω — ekleipō to leave out, to fail, used of the sun in Luke 23:45. “Nature is at his mercy, not he at nature‘s” (Moffatt). [source]
Revelation 6:12 Earthquake [σεισμὸς]
Lit., shaking. Used also of a tempest. See on Matthew 8:24, and compare Matthew 24:7. The word here is not necessarily confined to shaking the earth. In Matthew 24:29, it is predicted that the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ( σαλευθήσονται , see on Luke 21:26). Here also the heaven is removed (Revelation 6:14). Compare Hebrews 12:26, where the verb σείω toshake (kindred with σεισμὸς ) is used. [source]
Revelation 2:5 Will remove thy candlestick []
“Its candlestick has been for centuries removed out of his place; the squalid Mohammedan village which is nearest to its site does not count one Christian in its insignificant population; its temple is a mass of shapeless ruins; its harbor is a reedy pool; the bittern booms amid its pestilent and stagnant marshes; and malaria and oblivion reign supreme over the place where the wealth of ancient civilization gathered around the scenes of its grossest superstitions and its most degraded sins” (Farrar, “Life and Work of Paul,” ii., 43,44). John employs the verb κινέω remove(Rev., move ) only in Revelation, and only once besides the present instance, in Revelation 6:14, where, as here, it signifies moving in judgment. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

Revelation 1:9 Patmos []
Now called Patmo and Palmosa. In the Aegean, one of the group of the Sporades, about twenty-eight miles S. S.W. of Samos. It is about ten miles long by six in breadth. The island is volcanic, and is bare and rocky throughout; the hills, of which the highest rises to nearly a thousand feet, commanding a magnificent view of the neighboring sea and islands. The bay of La Scala, running into the land on the east, divides the island into two nearly equal parts, a northern and a southern. The ancient town, remains of which are still to be seen, occupied the isthmus which separates La Scala from the bay of Merika on the western coast. The modern town is on a hill in the southern half of the island, clustered at the foot of the monastery of St. John. A grotto is shown called “the grotto of the Apocalypse,” in which the apostle is said to have received the vision. “The stern, rugged barrenness of its broken promontories well suits the historical fact of the relegation of the condemned Christian to its shores, as of a convict to his prison. The view from the topmost peak, or, indeed, from any lofty elevation in the islands, unfolds an unusual sweep such as well became the Apocalypse, the unveiling of the future to the eyes of the solitary seer. Above, there was always the broad heaven of a Grecian sky; sometimes bright with its 'white cloud' (Revelation 14:14), sometimes torn with 'lightnings and thunderings,' and darkened by 'great hail,' or cheered with 'a rainbow like unto an emerald' (Revelation 4:3; Revelation 8:7; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 16:21). Over the high tops of Icaria, Samos, and Naxos rise the mountains of Asia Minor; amongst which would lie, to the north, the circle of the Seven Churches to which his addresses were to be sent. Around him stood the mountains and islands of the Archipelago (Revelation 6:14; Revelation 16:20). When he looked round, above or below, 'the sea' would always occupy the foremost place … the voices of heaven were like the sound of the waves beating on the shore, as 'the sound of many waters' (Revelation 14:2; Revelation 19:6); the millstone was 'cast into the sea' (Revelation 18:21); the sea was to 'give up the dead which were in it' (Revelation 20:13)” (Stanley, “Sermons in the East”). [source]
Revelation 16:20 Fled [επυγεν]
Second aorist active indicative of πευγω — pheugō Islands sometimes sink in the sea in earthquakes (Revelation 6:14). [source]

What do the individual words in Revelation 6:14 mean?

And - heaven departed like a scroll being rolled up every mountain island out of the places of them were moved
καὶ οὐρανὸς ἀπεχωρίσθη ὡς βιβλίον ἑλισσόμενον πᾶν ὄρος νῆσος ἐκ τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν ἐκινήθησαν

  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
οὐρανὸς  heaven 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: οὐρανός  
Sense: the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it.
ἀπεχωρίσθη  departed 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀποχωρίζω  
Sense: to separate, sever.
ὡς  like 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ὡς 
Sense: as, like, even as, etc.
βιβλίον  a  scroll 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: βιβλίον  
Sense: a small book, a scroll, a written document.
ἑλισσόμενον  being  rolled  up 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: ἑλίσσω  
Sense: to roll up, fold together.
πᾶν  every 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
ὄρος  mountain 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: ὄρος  
Sense: a mountain.
νῆσος  island 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: νῆσος  
Sense: an island.
ἐκ  out  of 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐκ 
Sense: out of, from, by, away from.
τόπων  places 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: τόπος 
Sense: place, any portion or space marked off, as it were from surrounding space.
αὐτῶν  of  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Neuter 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ἐκινήθησαν  were  moved 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Plural
Root: κινέω  
Sense: to cause to go, i.e. to move, set in motion.