ἁγίων (agion) in Revelation 22:6: Adjective Genitive Plural Masculine
ἁγίων (agion) in Revelation 22:6
Textual Witness
The witnessed form is ἁγίων in Revelation 22:6, within the phrase τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form adds a note of sacred identity to the prophets, helping the reader hear them as belonging to God's prophetic purpose.
How To Communicate It
For readers, the grammar clarifies that the prophets are described, not merely counted, and that their role is framed by holiness in relation to God.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Masculine grammatical gender here is an agreement feature, not a theological statement about male identity.
- The adjective describes the prophets in this verse, but the full meaning still comes from the clause and not from morphology alone.
What Does The Label Mean?
Adjective: the word describes or qualifies the noun it accompanies, here marking the kind of prophets in view.
Genitive: the form usually shows a dependent relationship, and here it works with the surrounding phrase to describe the prophets connected to God.
Plural: the form is grammatically plural in this occurrence, matching the plural noun it qualifies.
Masculine: the form uses the masculine grammatical class to agree with the noun it modifies, without making a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
It is attached to the phrase of the prophets, τῶν ... προφητῶν.
The genitive phrase is governed by the article and noun sequence after Θεοὺς, indicating a descriptive relationship rather than a separate assertion.
It qualifies προφητῶν by identifying them as holy or set apart prophets in God's relation to them.
It does not name a different group, and it does not by itself say that holiness is the subject of the clause.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive plural adjective describes the prophets as holy in a verse about reliable revelation.
Genitive plural adjective modifying προφητῶν. describes the prophets as holy or set apart. Attached to τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν. Governed by the genitive prophet phrase. The adjective supports the sacred character of the prophetic witness without making holiness the subject of the clause.
How are the prophets described in this phrase? They are described as holy prophets.
Direct: The form directly supports wording such as holy prophets.
The adjective describes the prophets in the phrase; the verse supplies the reliability and sending claims. Masculine plural agreement is grammatical and not a male-only theological claim by itself.
Adjective supplies the whole doctrine of prophecy: The form describes the prophets as holy; the verse and canon explain prophecy and revelation.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witnessed form is ἁγίων in Revelation 22:6, within the phrase τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν.
The lemma is ἅγιος, which commonly means holy, sacred, or set apart.
Here the plural genitive masculine form agrees with προφητῶν and functions as a descriptive modifier in the phrase about God's prophets.
The verse presents God as the one associated with the holy prophets and as the sender of his angel, so the phrase emphasizes the sacred standing of those prophets in the flow of revelation.
This wording fits the broader biblical pattern of prophets as persons set apart for God's message and service.
In translation or teaching, the form supports rendering the phrase naturally as 'the holy prophets' or 'his holy prophets,' depending on the surrounding syntax.
Do not infer more than the context gives, and do not make the adjective carry claims that belong to the larger clause.