Exploring the Meaning of Diploo in Greek

διπλόω means “to double.” It appears once, in the call to repay “double” in Revelation’s portrayal of judgment on a corrupt power.

Root and Related Words

διπλόω is derived from diplous (διπλοῦς), “double” (Strong’s G1362). The verb form draws its force from the underlying adjective’s notion of a “double” measure.

Occurrences

“Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.” (Revelation 18:6)

In Revelation 18:6, διπλόω functions within a pair of parallel commands that describe how retribution is to be administered. The first half of the verse sets the standard of correspondence: “Return to her just as she returned,” then intensifies it: “and repay her double as she did.” The second half repeats the same intensification through an image of measured mixture: “In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.” The verb’s contribution is to express the act of making the recompense a doubled amount relative to what “she” herself dispensed—both in the general repayment (“repay”) and in the concrete metaphor of a cup whose contents are mixed out.

The verse also places this doubling alongside a moral assessment: repayment is “according to her works.” Within that logic, doubling is not an abstract mathematical flourish but a specified measure of payback that is tethered to deeds already done. The call to “return” (what she “returned”) frames the doubled repayment as reversal: what has been given out is to come back upon the giver, not merely in kind but increased in measure. The cup imagery reinforces that the doubling concerns what is apportioned and administered; a “cup” is a bounded container, and mixing suggests a deliberate preparing of a portion. To “mix to her double” therefore depicts intentional, measured action rather than an uncontrolled excess: the doubled measure is prepared and delivered as a fitting response to what she prepared and delivered.

Sense and Usage

The single attestation in Revelation 18:6 shows how “to double” can operate as a directive for quantified recompense. The context is not about producing a second copy of something, but about assigning a doubled measure in repayment. The verse’s wording keeps the doubling closely tied to a prior pattern of action: “as she did,” “according to her works,” and “in the cup which she mixed.” The doubling is thus relational and comparative; it presupposes an original measure established by “her” actions, and the command calls for a response that is deliberately set at twice that measure.

Revelation 18:6 expresses the doubling in two coordinated ways. First, it is stated directly in terms of repayment: “repay her double.” Second, it is restated through a vivid picture of proportioning: “mix to her double.” The shift from repayment language to cup language anchors the verb’s sense in the world of measured portions. Even without expanding beyond the verse, the rhetoric indicates that doubling is meant to be understood concretely: the same kind of portion she prepared is now to be prepared for her, but doubled. The parallelism between “repay” and “mix” also suggests that doubling is not limited to one domain (financial, legal, or otherwise) within the verse’s frame; it is the governing measure of the whole act of returning what she has dealt out.

Within the verse’s moral logic, doubling heightens the intensity of the return. The command begins with equivalence—“just as she returned”—and then explicitly exceeds equivalence—“repay her double.” That movement gives διπλόω a rhetorical role: it marks escalation beyond strict one-for-one repayment. Yet the escalation is still portrayed as ordered and proportionate, because it is calibrated “according to her works” and expressed through the careful act of mixing in a cup. The verb therefore carries the idea of an increased measure that remains controlled, computed, and directed toward a particular recipient.

Imagery

The imagery attached to doubling in Revelation 18:6 is dominated by the “cup.” A cup is something filled, mixed, and handed over; it makes quantity visible and portable. By joining the command to double with the command to mix, the verse portrays doubled recompense as something prepared in measured fashion and delivered as a specific portion. The picture is of repayment that is not vague or generalized, but poured out in a defined, doubled measure that mirrors what was previously poured out.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).