The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection.
Parallel translations
- WEB The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
- KJV But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
- NKJV But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
- NASB The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
- NLT This is the first resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The rest of the dead do not live until the thousand years end; this is the first resurrection. A distinction is drawn between two resurrections.
Overview
The verse contrasts those who share the first resurrection with the rest of the dead who await the end of the millennium. Interpreters differ on whether the 'first resurrection' is spiritual regeneration, the believer's entrance into heaven at death, or a bodily raising. Despite the debate, the passage assures that those in Christ are blessed beyond the reach of final death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Phil 3:11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
- Rev 11:15Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”
- Ezek 37:2–14He led me all around among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and indeed, they were very dry.
- Luke 14:14and you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
- Rev 11:11But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them.
- Rom 11:15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
- Rev 20:8–9and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore.
- Rev 19:20–21But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 20:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.