Shared ground

These closing lines combine an open invitation with a strict warning about the book’s message. The Spirit and “the bride” (the worshiping community) speak together, and the circle widens so that “the one who hears” also repeats the call to “Come.” The invitation is aimed at need and desire: the thirsty and the willing may take “the water of life” as a free gift. That offer is presented as accessible, not purchased.

Immediately after, the speaker testifies to everyone who “hears” the words of this book’s prophecy. Two parallel warnings follow: adding to the words brings added plagues; taking away from the words brings loss of one’s share in the tree of life and the holy city. The penalties are framed using Revelation’s own images and outcomes and are explicitly tied to “this book.”

Where interpretation differs

Who is being addressed by “Come.” Some read the repeated “Come” mainly as directed to Jesus (a call for his coming), while others read it mainly as directed to the thirsty person (a call to come receive life). Many think the text intentionally does both: the community longs for Jesus to come, and that hope is paired with an open summons to anyone who desires life.

What “water of life freely” refers to. Some take it as a vivid picture for God’s gift of life and renewal without price, consistent with Revelation’s end-time city imagery. Others connect it more directly to specific practices (like baptism or the Lord’s Supper) as the concrete way the invitation is received. The text itself emphasizes the gift’s freeness and availability to the willing, without spelling out a ritual.

What the warning targets (copying, teaching, or any reshaping). Some take the warning as mainly about altering the written text as it is copied and read aloud. Others extend it to any distortion in explanation, teaching, or selective presentation that effectively adds or subtracts from the message. The passage explicitly speaks of “the words of the prophecy of this book” being added to or taken from; how broadly that applies beyond the book’s physical text is an inference.

Why the disagreement exists The wording “Come” can naturally point in two directions in the immediate context (toward Jesus’ coming and toward the hearer’s coming). Also, “water of life” is a powerful biblical image that can function as symbol or as a symbol tied to an enacted practice; Revelation often speaks in images without detailing mechanisms. Finally, “add” and “take away” can describe both scribal alteration and interpretive distortion, and the first-century setting included both public reading and the risk of reshaping a controversial message.

What this passage clearly contributes

1. It ends Revelation with an expansive, no-price invitation to life, placed on the lips of the Spirit and the community.
2. It draws hearers into active participation: those who hear are portrayed as echoing the call.
3. It asserts the integrity of this “book of prophecy” by attaching severe, matching consequences to adding or subtracting.
4. It connects faithfulness to the message with participation in the tree of life and the holy city, realities already presented within the book (cf. Revelation 22:6 and Revelation 22:16).