Verse
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Revelation 20:12
ESV And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
NIV And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
NASB And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
CSB I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
NLT I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.
KJV 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.
NKJV And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

What does Revelation 20:12 mean?

Standing before the great white throne are the resurrected dead who were not saved—those who did not accept Christ during life (John 3:36). These doomed individuals represent all classes of human beings, from paupers to princes. They are being judged by the Faithful and True Judge, who died to provide a way of escape from sin and eternal punishment (John 3:16–18). Those assembled at the great white throne rejected Jesus' redemptive work and His gracious invitation to believe on Him and have everlasting life (John 6:37). As a result, rather than being judged on the basis of Christ's work, they face the record of their sins when the books are opened. The record shows they sinned and failed to repent.

At the same time, another book is opened, which is the book of life. As verse 15 points out, the doomed are sentenced to eternal punishment because their names are not written in the book of life. Being judged "by what was written in the books, according to what they had done" may imply there are degrees of punishment in hell, but the absence of a defendant's name from the Lamb's book of life is the determining factor in his or her consignment to hell.
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Context Summary
Revelation 20:11–15 occurs just after the end of the kingdom reign of Christ on earth, when Satan was released for a brief time. He gathered rebel forces together to battle God and His saints, but lost and was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7–10). The next event described by John is the judgment at the great white throne. This is the point where unbelievers are judged according to their actions—a death sentence for everyone not saved through Christ (Romans 6:23). Chapter 21 describes the descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven and the beginning of the eternal age.
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Chapter Summary
Revelation chapter 20 represents the final lesson, final judgment, and final victory of the end times. Satan is bound, but not destroyed, and released after a thousand years of peace and righteousness. Proving that no evidence or reason to believe in and follow Jesus is enough for those determined to rebel, some follow Satan and are destroyed in a rebellion. Those who died without faith in Christ, through all of history, are resurrected to face the great white throne judgment. There, they are sentenced for sin and consigned eternally to the lake of fire.
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