ἐπιθήσει (epithesei) in Revelation 22:18: Verb Third Person Singular Future Active Indicative
ἐπιθήσει (epithesei) in Revelation 22:18
Textual Witness
The witness reads ἐπιθήσει in Revelation 22:18, with the surrounding text placing it after the conditional clause and before ὁ Θεὸς.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form strengthens the verse's tone of certainty, helping the warning land as a firm consequence rather than a vague threat.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, this form can be rendered with future force such as will place or will impose, while keeping the conditional warning clear.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Future indicative signals the clause's stated consequence, but the surrounding warning controls the meaning.
- Do not turn grammatical singular or voice into theological claims about God's nature or intent beyond the passage.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the form names an action or event, and here it presents what will happen if the warning is violated.
Future: points the action forward from the speaker's viewpoint, while the sentence controls the exact sense.
Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.
Indicative: presents the verbal idea as an assertion or statement in the clause.
Third person: the form speaks about someone or something rather than directly as I/we or you.
Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.
Singular: the verb is grammatically singular and matches a single implied subject in the clause.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It follows the conditional clause Ἐάν τις ἐπιτιθῇ πρὸς ταῦτα and stands before ὁ Θεὸς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν.
The future indicative is governed by the sentence's warning structure, where the added action is answered by God's stated response.
It states the promised consequence in the apodosis: God will put the described plagues upon that person.
It does not describe a completed action, and it does not by itself identify a different subject or create a different event from the context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The future verb states the consequence in the warning against adding to the prophetic words.
Future active indicative consequence verb. states what God will add in response to the violation named in the condition. Attached to God as subject and the plagues as the stated consequence. Governed by the conditional warning structure. The future form marks the consequence, while the warning sentence defines the condition and scope.
What consequence does the warning state? It states that God will add the described plagues to the one who adds to these words.
Direct: The future indicative directly supports English wording such as "God will add."
The future form is part of a warning apodosis; the condition and object of the warning must define its scope.
Future tense makes the warning speculative or uncertain: The future form states the consequence in the warning; uncertainty should not be imported from tense alone.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads ἐπιθήσει in Revelation 22:18, with the surrounding text placing it after the conditional clause and before ὁ Θεὸς.
The lemma ἐπιτίθημι can mean to lay, place, or add, and here the context of the warning points to the idea of adding something to the prophecy.
The future indicative works with the preceding condition to present God's response as stated and certain, while the verb's lexical range is shaped by the object that follows.
The verse warns that adding to the words of this prophecy brings the declared plagues on the offender.
Within the book's closing warning, the form helps communicate the seriousness and certainty of the prohibition against altering the prophetic message.
Readers should hear the verb as part of a solemn warning that makes the consequence memorable, direct, and urgent.
Do not derive from the tense alone any claim about exact timing beyond the warned consequence, and do not let morphology override the clause's warning force.