αὐτούς· (autous) in Revelation 22:5: Accusative Plural Masculine
αὐτούς· (autous) in Revelation 22:5
Textual Witness
The witness reads αὐτούς in Revelation 22:5 within the clause, ὁ Θεὸς φωτίζει αὐτούς.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form clarifies that the lighting action reaches a plural group already understood from context, which strengthens the verse's picture of God's direct care.
How To Communicate It
In translation and explanation, render the pronoun naturally as them or those, preserving the verse's flow and the clause's focus on God's action.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case marks relation in the clause, but context determines the exact force.
- Masculine grammatical gender here is formal and should not be pressed into a theological claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Pronoun: the word points back to persons already in view, rather than naming them again.
Accusative: the form usually marks the direct object or another object-like relation in the clause.
Plural: the form refers to more than one person or entity in this occurrence.
Masculine: the noun class is masculine in form, but this grammar alone does not establish a theological gender claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
φωτίζει
The pronoun follows the verb and functions as the one being acted upon by God's illuminating action.
It serves as the direct object of the verb, identifying the group whom the Lord God lights.
It is not the subject of the clause, and the form by itself does not identify the group beyond what the context already supplies.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The pronoun names the group receiving God's direct illumination in the renewed creation scene.
Accusative direct object pronoun. identifies the group acted upon by God's light. Attached to the verb saying the Lord God will illumine them. Governed by the verb of lighting or illuminating. The pronoun tracks the beneficiaries of the action, while the context supplies the vision's theological force.
Whom does the Lord God illumine? The pronoun points to the plural group already in view.
Direct: The object relation directly supports translating the pronoun as 'them.'
The pronoun's referent should be tracked from the surrounding scene and should not be left vague in teaching.
Pronoun alone identifies the group: The pronoun requires the surrounding vision to identify who is meant.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads αὐτούς in Revelation 22:5 within the clause, ὁ Θεὸς φωτίζει αὐτούς.
The lemma αὐτός is a flexible pronoun that can refer back to persons or things already identified by context.
Here the accusative plural form most naturally marks those who are illuminated, while the nearby plural verb καὶ βασιλεύσουσιν supports a plural referent already in view.
The verse says that God provides the needed light for the people described in the scene, so they no longer need lamp or sun.
The grammar fits the passage's broader picture of divine provision and rule without adding details that the clause itself does not state.
For readers and teachers, the form helps show who receives the action and keeps the sentence centered on God's sustaining light.
Do not derive a fresh identity, gender theology, or a different subject from the pronoun form alone.