προφητείας (propheteias) in Revelation 22:18: Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
προφητείας (propheteias) in Revelation 22:18
Textual Witness
In the received text of Revelation 22:18, the phrase reads τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου, placing this noun in a close modifier chain.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The grammar narrows the warning to the defined prophetic content of the book and supports a careful, bounded reading of the command.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, it can be rendered naturally as 'the words of the prophecy of this book,' preserving the dependent relationship without overreading it.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- A genitive relationship can be specific, but the exact nuance must come from the sentence, not from the case label alone.
- Grammatical gender here is a language feature, not a theological statement about gender.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names a reality here, the prophetic message being referred to in the sentence.
Genitive: the form usually marks a dependent relationship, and here it links 'words' to the prophecy phrase.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, pointing to one collective referent in the clause.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which by itself does not make a theological claim about gender.
What The Form Does In This Verse
τῶν λόγων and the larger phrase τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου
It is governed by the article τῆς and functions within a genitive chain that identifies which 'words' are meant.
The form helps specify the speech as the words belonging to, or associated with, this prophecy of the book.
It does not by itself identify a new subject, a direct object, or a separate event in the verse.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive noun identifies the prophetic words under the warning against adding to them.
Noun genitive singular feminine. links the words being heard to the prophecy of this book. Attached to the words of the prophecy phrase. Governed by the genitive chain in Revelation 22:18. The form narrows the warning's object to the prophetic words in view.
What kind of words are under warning? They are the words of the prophecy of this book.
Direct: The genitive directly supports of the prophecy in the warning phrase.
Genitive relation should be read within the full phrase, not as an isolated case label. Feminine gender is grammatical agreement. The warning's scope should be governed by the words, prophecy, and book language together.
Genitive alone defines the warning's entire scope: The genitive contributes to the phrase; the verse supplies the warning and consequence. prophecy noun carries all canon claims by itself: The noun identifies the prophetic content here; broader claims require wider textual grounding.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
In the received text of Revelation 22:18, the phrase reads τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου, placing this noun in a close modifier chain.
The lemma προφητεία refers to prophecy, prophetic utterance, or the prophetic message, and the form here keeps that lexical sense intact.
The genitive works with the surrounding words to define a specific set of words, namely the words belonging to this prophecy of the book.
The warning concerns adding to or altering the words of this prophetic book, so the noun contributes to the scope of the prohibition.
Within Revelation, the phrase ties the message to an identifiable prophetic testimony, consistent with the book's self-presentation as prophecy.
For readers and hearers, the form helps signal precision: this is not prophecy in general, but the prophetic content of this book.
Do not derive from the genitive alone that every possible aspect of prophecy is in view, or that gender carries doctrinal meaning.