δούλοις (doulois) in Revelation 22:6: Noun Dative Plural Masculine
δούλοις (doulois) in Revelation 22:6
Textual Witness
The witness reads δούλοις in Revelation 22:6, within the phrase δεῖξαι τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The grammar directs attention to the audience of the revelation, so the verse reads as a message sent to God's servants rather than as a generic announcement to no one in particular.
How To Communicate It
For readers, this form supports the sense that divine revelation is given with a target audience in view, and it helps translators preserve the relational force of the dative.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not turn grammatical gender into a theological gender claim.
- If syntax is uncertain, describe only the safest contextual function.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names persons as slaves or servants, so it functions as a substantive rather than a verb or modifier.
Dative: this form usually marks an indirect object, recipient, or related reference, and here it fits the group being shown what is necessary.
Plural: this form refers to more than one servant, presenting them as a collective group in the clause.
Masculine: this is the grammatical class of the form in this occurrence, but grammatical gender here does not by itself make a theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
τοῖς and the phrase δεῖξαι
The dative plural is governed by the infinitive δεῖξαι and its verbal idea of showing or making known to someone.
It identifies the intended recipients of the revelation, namely those to whom the angel is to show what must soon happen.
It does not by itself state agency, possession, or a moral rank; those ideas must come from the wider sentence, not from the case alone.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The dative plural identifies the recipients of the revelation in Revelation 22:6.
Dative plural recipient of the showing action. marks the servants as the people to whom the message is shown. Attached to the phrase to show his servants. Governed by deixai in Revelation 22:6. The dative marks recipient or audience; servant identity is defined by the verse and book context.
To whom are these things shown? They are shown to God's servants.
Direct: The dative plural directly supports "to his servants" or "for his servants."
Dative relation can be recipient, reference, or benefit, so the showing verb guides the reading here. Masculine plural grammatical form should not be made into a gender limitation.
Dative case alone defines status: The dative marks the recipient relation, while the sentence identifies the servants. masculine plural excludes women: Masculine plural is grammatical form and should not be overread as a theological boundary.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads δούλοις in Revelation 22:6, within the phrase δεῖξαι τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ.
The lemma δοῦλος means slave or servant, so the form names those under another's authority rather than changing the lexical identity.
The dative plural points to the people for whom the message is intended, and the surrounding words show that God sent his angel to reveal these things to them.
The verse presents the disclosure as directed to God's servants, emphasizing that the revelation is delivered to those aligned with his rule.
This fits the wider biblical pattern in which God's servants receive and pass on divine testimony under his authority.
In teaching or translation, the form can be rendered as 'to his servants' or 'for his servants' if that best reflects the flow of the sentence.
Do not derive from the dative form alone that these servants are a special class beyond the context, or that grammatical gender carries a doctrinal meaning.