This verb means to be at the prime, reach full bloom, or come to maturity. Classical usage applied it to persons in their prime, cities flourishing, and crops reaching ripeness. John uses it in Revelation 14:18 in the vision of harvest: "gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes have ripened." The verb emphasizes the grapes reaching full maturity, ready for harvest—an ominous image since this harvest is for the winepress of God's wrath. The ripeness signals not blessing but judgment's appointed time: sin has reached its full development, and the harvest of wrath is ready.