In this context, if we personify "Death" then "Sea" also must be personified and that is impossible:
20:13 And the sea gave (up) the dead in it and death and Hades (a) gave (up) the dead in them, and they-were-judged each according-to their works.
LEXICON—a. ᾅδης (LN 1.19) (BAGD 1. p. 17): ‘Hades’ [BAGD, BNTC, EC, LN, WBC; NAB, NCV, NET, NIV, NRSV, REB, TNT], ‘hades’ [Lns], ‘the kingdom of death’ [CEV], ‘hell’ [KJV], ‘the grave’ [NLT], ‘the world of the dead’ [LN; TEV]. See this word also at 1:18 and 6:8.
QUESTION—If the sea, death, and Hades cannot be personified, how can this verse be translated?
It could be translated as: And those dead people who were in the sea and in Hades went to be judged, each according to their works [TH] -Trail, R. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of Revelation 12–22 (2nd ed., p. 191). SIL International.
The Sea, Death and Hades are all realms of the Dead in this context and not personifications as elsewhere.
I believe, perhaps no one else does, the Sea is mentioned because it is standing for the realm of Chaos, Tartarus and perhaps the Abyss had entrances to them, in the Sea. The prisons of fallen angels. Notice the Beast in Rev. 13:1 rises from "the sea" of supernatural activity just as in Daniel:
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten (Rev. 13:1 NKJ)
2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. (Dan. 7:2-3 NKJ)
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isa. 27:1 KJV)
Symbolically the sea rages against the boundaries God set:
Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD.`Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. (Jer. 5:22 NKJ)
Commentators wonder where Fallen angels are judged. The mention of the sea, and the absence of the sea in the New Heavens and earth, make it possible "the sea" represents the realm of fallen angels, whereas men are in Hades or the section of Hades where they are already judged worthy of the second death, those guilty of eternal sin. Its also called "the pit" in the OT, the place where the really wicked suffer.
This event prefigures what happens on Judgment Day. The resurrection also applies to the fallen angels, both in the Abyss and Tartarus = "the sea". The "spirits of demons" are imprisoned in unclean abominable flesh, then cast into the lake of Fire which was created for Satan and his angels.
32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them.
33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. (Lk. 8:32-33 NKJ)
In the Greek its implied they had no control of the swine as they were compelled to drown themselves in what symbolizes the "lake of fire".
20:13 And the sea gave (up) the dead in it and death and Hades (a) gave (up) the dead in them, and they-were-judged each according-to their works.
LEXICON—a. ᾅδης (LN 1.19) (BAGD 1. p. 17): ‘Hades’ [BAGD, BNTC, EC, LN, WBC; NAB, NCV, NET, NIV, NRSV, REB, TNT], ‘hades’ [Lns], ‘the kingdom of death’ [CEV], ‘hell’ [KJV], ‘the grave’ [NLT], ‘the world of the dead’ [LN; TEV]. See this word also at 1:18 and 6:8.
QUESTION—If the sea, death, and Hades cannot be personified, how can this verse be translated?
It could be translated as: And those dead people who were in the sea and in Hades went to be judged, each according to their works [TH] -Trail, R. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of Revelation 12–22 (2nd ed., p. 191). SIL International.
The Sea, Death and Hades are all realms of the Dead in this context and not personifications as elsewhere.
I believe, perhaps no one else does, the Sea is mentioned because it is standing for the realm of Chaos, Tartarus and perhaps the Abyss had entrances to them, in the Sea. The prisons of fallen angels. Notice the Beast in Rev. 13:1 rises from "the sea" of supernatural activity just as in Daniel:
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten (Rev. 13:1 NKJ)
2 Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.
3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. (Dan. 7:2-3 NKJ)
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isa. 27:1 KJV)
Symbolically the sea rages against the boundaries God set:
Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD.`Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. (Jer. 5:22 NKJ)
Commentators wonder where Fallen angels are judged. The mention of the sea, and the absence of the sea in the New Heavens and earth, make it possible "the sea" represents the realm of fallen angels, whereas men are in Hades or the section of Hades where they are already judged worthy of the second death, those guilty of eternal sin. Its also called "the pit" in the OT, the place where the really wicked suffer.
This event prefigures what happens on Judgment Day. The resurrection also applies to the fallen angels, both in the Abyss and Tartarus = "the sea". The "spirits of demons" are imprisoned in unclean abominable flesh, then cast into the lake of Fire which was created for Satan and his angels.
32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them.
33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. (Lk. 8:32-33 NKJ)
In the Greek its implied they had no control of the swine as they were compelled to drown themselves in what symbolizes the "lake of fire".
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