μῆνα (mena) in Revelation 22:2: Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
μῆνα (mena) in Revelation 22:2
Textual Witness
The witness reads μῆνα in Revelation 22:2 within the phrase κατὰ μῆνα ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀποδιδοῦν, so the form stands in a temporal distribution context.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form supports a plain sense of monthly recurrence and regular provision in the verse's picture of life-giving fruit.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, this form can be rendered as month by month, helping readers hear the repeated rhythm in the description.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make the masculine label into a theological claim about sex or personhood.
- Do not overread accusative case beyond the temporal-distributive sense supported by the phrase.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names a time unit, here the idea of a month as a measure of recurring duration.
Accusative: this form can mark a direct object or a time span, and here it fits the phrase for regular monthly recurrence.
Singular: the form is singular here, pointing to one month at a time rather than multiple months.
Masculine: the noun belongs to the masculine grammatical class, which is a form feature and does not by itself carry a gendered theological meaning.
What The Form Does In This Verse
κατὰ
The preposition κατὰ frames the phrase as a distributive measure, so μῆνα works within the idea of one month at a time.
It contributes to the sense of regular monthly distribution in the tree's fruit-bearing, not to a separate object in the sentence.
It is not best treated as the main subject or as a standalone focus; the larger clause is about the tree's ongoing fruitfulness.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The prepositional accusative phrase expresses the monthly rhythm of the tree's fruit-bearing.
Accusative time noun governed by κατὰ. marks a recurring monthly measure in the fruit-bearing description. Attached to κατὰ μῆνα. Governed by κατὰ. The phrase supports regular recurrence, not a separate object in the clause.
How regularly is the fruit-bearing pictured? The phrase presents the fruit-bearing in a monthly recurring pattern.
Direct: The phrase directly affects rendering the timing as each month or month by month.
The accusative works with κατὰ as a time measure rather than as the main object. The recurring pattern supports the imagery of provision without needing the case ending to carry the whole interpretation.
Accusative always means direct object: Here the accusative is governed by κατὰ and functions in a temporal-distributive phrase. monthly language is over-systematized: The phrase κατὰ μῆνα marks monthly recurrence, while the apocalyptic scene controls how the imagery is handled.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads μῆνα in Revelation 22:2 within the phrase κατὰ μῆνα ἕνα ἕκαστον ἀποδιδοῦν, so the form stands in a temporal distribution context.
The lemma μήν means a month, and this occurrence uses that time noun in a regular interval sense rather than a different lexical idea.
With κατὰ and the surrounding distributive wording, the accusative singular naturally supports the idea of monthly recurrence in the tree's fruit production.
The verse presents the tree of life as yielding fruit in steady, ordered abundance, with a monthly rhythm that marks continual provision.
Within the passage's picture of healing and life for the nations, the monthly measure reinforces ordered abundance without requiring symbolic overreach.
For readers, the grammar helps communicate repeated sufficiency, showing that the tree's fruit is not occasional but regularly available.
Do not derive a hidden calendar scheme, a strict symbolic code, or a doctrinal claim from the case alone.