| Geneva Study Bible {25} 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. (25) This is a reply or an answer to an objection: for some man will say, But they are dead, whom the sea, death and the grave has consumed, how shall they appear before the judge? John answers, by resurrection from death, where all things (however repugnant) shall minister and serve at the commandment of God, as in Da 12:1,2. People's New Testament 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. A symbol of the lost dead of whom no man knoweth. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. Death and Hades (Revised Version). The unseen world which hides from our view those who have departed from earth. The thought of the verse is that all the dead shall be judged. Wesley's Notes 20:13 Death and hades gave up the dead that were in them - Death gave up all the bodies of men; and hades, the receptacle of separate souls, gave them up, to be re - united to their bodies. King James Translators' Notes hell: or, the grave Scofield Reference Notes Margin hell See Scofield Note: "Lk 16:23". Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 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. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 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 none so great, as to avoid having to account for them. Not only those alive at the coming of Christ, but all the dead. There is a book of remembrance both for good and bad: and the book of the sinner's conscience, though formerly secret, will then be opened. Every man will recollect all his past actions, though he had long forgotten many of them. Another book shall be opened, the book of the Scriptures, the rule of life; it represents the Lord's knowledge of his people, and his declaring their repentance, faith, and good works; showing the blessings of the new covenant. By their works men shall be justified or condemned; he will try their principles by their practices. Those justified and acquitted by the gospel, shall be justified and acquitted by the Judge, and shall enter into eternal life, having nothing more to fear from death, or hell, or wicked men; for these are all destroyed together. This is the second death; it is the final separation of sinners from God. Let it be our great concern to see whether our Bibles justify or condemn us now; for Christ will judge the secrets of all men according to the gospel. Who shall dwell with devouring flames? | 
