πληγὰς (plegas) in Revelation 22:18: Noun Accusative Plural Feminine
πληγὰς (plegas) in Revelation 22:18
Textual Witness
In this text the surface form is πληγὰς, and the immediate clause warns that God will place these upon the offender.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form strengthens the warning by presenting the threatened judgments as concrete and multiple, while the context keeps the meaning tethered to divine response in the verse.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, render the noun in a way that preserves the warning of coming judgments and avoids overreading the case or number.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case can mark object-like force here, but the sentence and verse must still control the sense.
- Grammatical feminine gender is a noun class feature and must not be turned into a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a thing or reality here, namely the punishments or strokes mentioned in the warning.
Accusative: the form usually marks a direct object or related accusative role, and here it fits the thing that God will place on the offender.
Plural: the form is grammatically plural in this occurrence, so it points to more than one stroke or plague in the warning.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which is a language feature and does not by itself make a theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ... ἐπιθήσει ὁ Θεὸς
The accusative phrase is governed by the future verb ἐπιθήσει and the preposition ἐπ᾽, which together present the strokes as what God will bring upon the offender.
It functions as the object-like content of the threatened action, naming what is laid upon the person who adds to the prophecy.
It is not the subject of the clause, and the case alone does not prove that the word means a literal physical wound rather than the judgmental plagues in context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The accusative plural noun names the judgments threatened in the warning against adding to the prophecy.
Accusative plural object of the threatened action. names the plagues that God will put upon the offender. Attached to τὰς πληγὰς. Governed by ἐπιθήσει. The plural object gives concrete warning content, while Revelation's context defines the judgments.
What does the warning say God will put upon the offender? The noun names the plagues in the threatened action.
Direct: The object role directly affects rendering the warning as God adding or placing the plagues upon the offender.
The noun's concrete force should be read in Revelation's judgment context rather than reduced to a generic wound.
Plural noun alone defines the whole judgment theology: The noun names the threatened plagues; the warning and book context supply the theological force.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
In this text the surface form is πληγὰς, and the immediate clause warns that God will place these upon the offender.
The lemma is πληγή, a noun that can refer to a blow, wound, or by extension a calamity or plague.
Its accusative plural form fits the surrounding verb and preposition as the thing imposed on the person who adds to the book's words.
The verse warns that adding to the prophecy brings the listed judgments upon the offender, with the noun naming those judgments in plural form.
The form aligns with Revelation's use of πληγή for divinely sent plagues or strokes, but the local warning and wider context determine the force.
For readers, the grammar supports a clear warning: the offense leads to multiple divine strokes or plagues, not merely a vague negative outcome.
Do not derive a claim that the plural by itself proves literal physical injury, a fixed number of punishments, or a doctrinal point beyond the warning.