τάχει. (tachei) in Revelation 22:6: Noun Dative Singular Neuter
τάχει. (tachei) in Revelation 22:6
Textual Witness
The textus receptus of Scrivener 1894 reads ἐν τάχει in the clause about what must happen.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The grammar reinforces urgency and promptness, helping the reader hear the prophecy as imminent in presentation, while leaving the exact English choice to context.
How To Communicate It
In explanation or translation, this form can be described as a dative phrase with ἐν that communicates speed, brevity, or nearness of fulfillment.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Dative form here suggests circumstance or manner, but the verse context determines the final nuance.
- Neuter grammatical gender is descriptive only and does not create a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: this form names a quality or manner related to speed, and here it functions within a phrase rather than standing as a verb.
Dative: this form usually marks relation, means, or circumstance, and in this clause it works with the preposition to express manner or timing.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, presenting the idea as one collective manner of speed or quickness.
Neuter: the noun belongs to the neuter grammatical class, which does not by itself make any theological or personal claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
ἐν τάχει
The preposition ἐν governs the dative form and frames the expression as a circumstantial phrase.
The phrase describes how the things spoken of are to happen, most naturally with the sense of quickly or soon in this context.
It is not best treated as a standalone subject or object, and the case alone should not be used to force a more specific meaning than the clause supports.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The dative speed phrase frames the prophecy's urgency near the close of Revelation.
Dative noun governed by en in a timing or manner phrase. marks speed, promptness, or urgency in the statement about what must happen. Attached to the must happen soon or quickly statement. Governed by the preposition en. The phrase is important for translation, but it should not be made to settle every eschatological timing question alone.
How does the verse frame the timing or manner of what must happen? The dative phrase presents it as happening soon, quickly, or with urgency.
Direct: The form directly supports soon, quickly, or in speed depending on translation choice.
The phrase can be discussed as speed, promptness, or near-term urgency, and context should guide the choice. Neuter grammatical gender does not add a theological meaning.
In speed phrase settles all Revelation timing debates: The form frames urgency; the book's whole prophetic context governs eschatological conclusions.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The textus receptus of Scrivener 1894 reads ἐν τάχει in the clause about what must happen.
The lemma τάχος refers to speed or quickness, and the lexicon notes its use in this idiomatic kind of phrase.
With ἐν and the dative, the form functions as a contextual phrase of manner or circumstance, supporting the idea of rapid occurrence.
The sentence tells the servants of God that the things shown to them must happen soon or quickly, according to the flow of the verse.
Within Revelation, this wording fits the book's repeated concern to present divine disclosure as pressing and timely, without requiring more precision than the verse gives.
For teaching or translation, the grammar supports rendering the phrase in clear time-or-speed language such as quickly or soon, depending on the larger context.
Do not derive a separate doctrine, a personal subject, or a gendered meaning from the noun form alone.