Ὅρα (Ora) in Revelation 22:9: Verb Second Person Singular Present Active Imperative
Ὅρα (Ora) in Revelation 22:9
Textual Witness
The witness reads Ὅρα in Revelation 22:9 within the warning, 'καὶ λέγει μοι, Ὅρα μή'.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form sharpens the verse into a brief, urgent correction that shapes how the reader hears the rest of the sentence.
How To Communicate It
In communication, the form signals direct pastoral restraint and helps the reader sense that the speaker is interrupting and redirecting the action.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not turn verbal mood into a standalone theology or ignore the surrounding warning.
- Do not overclaim from tense, voice, or mood when the passage context already controls the sense.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the form names an action or command, here a direct imperative that addresses someone in speech.
Present: often views the action as in progress, customary, or presently in view. Context decides the exact force.
Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.
Imperative: presents the verbal idea as a command, appeal, or summons to action.
Second person: the hearer or hearers are grammatically addressed by the verbal form.
Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.
Singular: the command is directed to one hearer, so the form addresses a single person in the scene.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It is attached to the direct address in the warning, 'Ὅρα μή'.
It is governed by the speaker's urgent prohibition, with μή marking the negative command rather than a mere observation.
It functions as an immediate caution, telling the hearer to pay attention and not act in the way the situation forbids.
It does not supply a doctrinal statement by itself, and it does not require the sense 'see' in a literal visual-only way.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The imperative with me forms the urgent warning that redirects worship to God.
Present active imperative, second person singular. introduces a prohibition or caution against the wrong response. Attached to the warning phrase hora me. Governed by the speaker's corrective reply in Revelation 22:9. The imperative and negative particle combine as a warning; the next clause directs worship properly.
What warning does the form introduce? It introduces the warning not to do that, leading to the command to worship God.
Direct: The imperative with me directly supports a warning such as see that you do not or do not do that.
Present imperative in a warning should not be forced into a duration claim. The command means take heed in context, not merely look with the eyes. The surrounding correction supplies the worship-theology conclusion.
Present imperative always means keep on doing: The warning's force comes from the negative command in context, not a duration formula. imperative alone supplies worship theology: The imperative introduces the warning; the surrounding words direct worship to God.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads Ὅρα in Revelation 22:9 within the warning, 'καὶ λέγει μοι, Ὅρα μή'.
The lemma is ὁράω, whose basic sense includes seeing, noticing, or taking heed, and that lexical range fits the command here.
The imperative works with μή to form a spoken caution, so the grammar supports a warning to stop and pay attention rather than a detached comment.
In this setting the line asks the hearer to refrain from misdirected response and to heed the speaker's correction before the act of worship that follows.
Across the passage, the command fits the larger pattern of redirecting honor to God alone, and the grammar serves that local correction.
For translation and teaching, the form is best rendered with a concise warning such as 'See that you do not' or 'Do not do that', depending on the target style.
Do not derive more than the immediate warning from the imperative, and do not treat the verbal form as if it alone settles every interpretive question.