σου (sou) in Revelation 22:9: P-2GS
σου (sou) in Revelation 22:9
Textual Witness
The witness reads σου in Revelation 22:9 within the warning not to worship and the self-description, "I am your fellow servant."
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The pronoun sharpens the personal address and helps the reader hear the speaker's humility and shared status with the one addressed.
How To Communicate It
In English rendering, the form is well conveyed by 'your' or an equivalent second-person genitive, preserving the direct relationship in the sentence.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Genitive case here indicates relation, not an independent theological claim.
- Do not treat pronoun gender or number as proof of identity beyond the immediate address.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the form points to a person already in view rather than naming that person directly.
Genitive: the form usually marks possession, relation, or close association within the phrase.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence and addresses one speaker-recipient.
Common in function: this pronoun form is not a gendered noun class claim and does not by itself teach anything about biological or theological gender.
What The Form Does In This Verse
συνδουλος
The form is tied to συνδουλος σου, where the genitive pronoun identifies the person addressed as the one to whom the fellow-servant relation belongs.
It helps specify relationship in the sentence: the speaker says he is the addressee's fellow servant, along with the addressee's brothers, prophets, and keepers of the book's words.
It does not supply the command, and it does not make the speaker the master; the surrounding words already frame the statement and the call to worship God.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The genitive pronoun marks shared-servant relation in a verse that redirects worship to God alone.
Second-person singular genitive pronoun in a relational noun phrase. marks the relationship between the speaker and John. Attached to the claim, "your fellow servant". Governed by the warning not to worship the angelic speaker. The genitive identifies relational belonging in the phrase; the command to worship God supplies the theological guardrail.
How does the speaker relate to John? The speaker identifies himself as John's fellow servant.
Direct: The form directly supports possessive wording such as "your fellow servant."
The genitive shows relationship, not worship-worthiness or hierarchy by itself. The verse's command, not the pronoun alone, establishes that worship belongs to God.
Genitive relation becomes hierarchy: Do not use the genitive pronoun to elevate the speaker; the context explicitly redirects worship to God.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads σου in Revelation 22:9 within the warning not to worship and the self-description, "I am your fellow servant."
The lexeme is σύ, the common second-person pronoun, here appearing in its genitive singular form.
In this setting the genitive most naturally signals the person addressed by the speaker's claim of shared service and shared fellowship with the prophetic and obedient community.
The verse emphasizes that the speaker stands alongside the addressee and the others named, not above them, and therefore directs worship to God alone.
The form fits a broader biblical pattern where direct address and relational pronouns clarify who is being warned, corrected, or included in a shared identity.
For readers and translators, the pronoun keeps the line personal and relational, making the warning and confession feel immediate rather than abstract.
Do not derive a hidden doctrine from the genitive ending alone, and do not use grammatical form to override the plain force of the surrounding dialogue.