independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)
The prologue — the chain of revelation 1:1–3
1
The revelation of Jesus Christ,independent — the verbless title — the book named in its first word
which God gave himrelative — the chain begins — God its source, Christ its receiver
to show to his servantspurpose — purpose infinitive — given in order to be shown
the things that must soon take place;relative — headless relative, object of δεῖξαι — Dan 2:28–29 ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι, now ἐν τάχει
and he made it known by signs,relative — the relative continued paratactically — ἐσήμανεν, 'sign-ified' (Dan 2:45 LXX)
having sent it through his angel to his servant John,participial — means — the last two links: angel, then John
2
who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ,relative — John the witness — the book's word-pair (cf. vv. 9; 6:9; 20:4)
to all that he saw.relative — headless ὅσα in apposition — the witness is exactly what was seen
3
Blessed is the one who reads aloud and those who hear the words of the prophecyindependent — the first of the book's seven beatitudes — one lector, a listening assembly
and keep what is written in it,participial — one article governs both participles — the hearers ARE the keepers
for the time is near.cause — the ground of the blessing — the καιρός at hand (cf. 22:10)
The greeting and the doxology 1:4–8
vv. 4–5a — the address: grace from the throne, the Spirits, and Jesus
4
John, to the seven churches that are in Asia:independent — the epistolary superscription — sender and recipients in one breath
Grace to you and peaceindependent — the greeting — three sources follow
from him who is and who was and who is to come,phrase modifier — SOLECISM kept — nominative after ἀπό: the Name (Exod 3:14) is indeclinable; ὁ ἦν a finite verb pressed into a participle's slot
and from the seven spiritsphrase modifier — the second source — the sevenfold Spirit before the throne (cf. 4:5; Isa 11:2)
who are before his throne,relative — verbless relative — located at the throne
5
and from Jesus Christ,phrase modifier — the third source — Jesus named last and expanded
the faithful witness,phrase modifier — SOLECISM kept — nominative title against the genitive Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Ps 89:37)
the firstborn of the deadphrase modifier — second title — Ps 89:27 πρωτότοκος, now of resurrection
and the ruler of the kings of the earth.phrase modifier — third title — Ps 89:27 completed: witness, firstborn, ruler
vv. 5b–6 — the doxology: to the one who loves us
To the one who loves usindependent — the doxology opens — a suspended dative, resumed by αὐτῷ (v. 6); the present tense: loves, now
and freed us from our sins by his blood,participial — coordinate dative participle — the aorist release, at the price of blood
6
and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father —participial — SOLECISM kept — finite ἐποίησεν continues the participial chain (Exod 19:6: kingdom and priests)
to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever.independent — the doxology proper — αὐτῷ resumes the suspended datives
Amen.phrase modifier — the seal
vv. 7–8 — the oracle of the coming; the Alpha and the Omega
7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds,independent — Dan 7:13 — the cloud-rider; the book's keynote oracle
and every eye will see him,independent — Zech 12:10 blended in — the seeing universalized
even those who pierced him;relative — Zech 12:10 — the piercers included in πᾶς ὀφθαλμός (John's own rendering, cf. John 19:37)
and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.independent — Zech 12:10–12 — the mourning widened from Israel's clans to all tribes
Yes, Amen.independent — the double seal — Greek ναί and Hebrew ἀμήν
8
"I am the Alpha and the Omega,"independent — the divine self-declaration — first and last letters (Isa 44:6; 48:12)
says the Lord God,phrase modifier — postposed quotative frame — the prophetic λέγει κύριος formula; God himself speaks
who is and who was and who is to come,phrase modifier — the v. 4 formula repeated — the greeting's first source now names himself
the Almighty.phrase modifier — παντοκράτωρ — the LXX's rendering of YHWH Sebaoth (Amos 4:13)
The inaugural vision 1:9–20
vv. 9–11 — Patmos: the voice and the command to write
9
I, John,independent — the seer names himself — the apocalyptic ἐγώ (Dan 8:1)
your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus,phrase modifier — apposition — not apostle but brother; one article binds tribulation, kingdom, endurance
was on the island called Patmosindependent — the narrative verb — ἐγενόμην, 'I came to be' on Patmos
because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.cause — διά + accusative — banished for the word-pair of v. 2, not to receive it
10
I came to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day,independent — ἐγενόμην doubled — prophetic rapture; κυριακὴ ἡμέρα read as Sunday, literature's first mention
and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,independent — the paratactic chain begins — the trumpet of theophany (Exod 19:16)
11
saying,participial — SOLECISM kept — genitive λεγούσης against accusative φωνήν, drawn to σάλπιγγος
"What you see, write in a bookcontent — the first command — the fronted Ὃ βλέπεις is its object
and send it to the seven churches,content — the second command — the book is a circular letter
to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."phrase modifier — the seven named — the postal circuit of Asia, in road order
vv. 12–16 — the one like a son of man
12
And I turned to see the voiceindependent — the turn — 'to see the voice', the mixed idiom kept
that was speaking with me,relative — the voice personified — it speaks WITH him
and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,independent — the vision proper opens — Zech 4:2's lampstand, now seven
13
and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man,phrase modifier — second object of εἶδον — Dan 7:13; SOLECISM kept: ὅμοιον with accusative υἱόν for the expected dative
clothed in a robe reaching to the feetparticipial — the vesture — the ποδήρης of the high priest (Exod 28:4 LXX; Dan 10:5)
and girded across the chest with a golden sash;participial — the golden sash — worn high, as Dan 10:5's man of linen
14
his head and his hair were white like white wool, like snow,phrase modifier — the portrait column begins — Dan 7:9: the Ancient of Days' hair given to the son of man; the description slides into nominatives (flagged)
and his eyes like a flame of fire,phrase modifier — eyes as fire — Dan 10:6
15
and his feet like burnished bronze refined as in a furnace,phrase modifier — Dan 10:6 — SOLECISM kept: genitive πεπυρωμένης agrees with nothing in the clause
and his voice like the sound of many waters,phrase modifier — Ezek 1:24; 43:2 — the voice of the God of Israel's glory
16
and having in his right hand seven stars,participial — SOLECISM kept — hanging nominative ἔχων in the accusative frame; the seven stars held
and from his mouth a sharp two-edged sword proceeding,phrase modifier — Isa 49:2; 11:4 — the mouth-sword: his only weapon is the word (cf. 19:15)
and his face as the sun shines in its strength.phrase modifier — the column's seventh feature — Judg 5:31; φαίνει belongs inside the comparison
vv. 17–20 — 'Do not fear': the commission and the mystery
17
And when I saw him,conditional — temporal (ὅτε) — leans on ἔπεσα below
I fell at his feet as though dead.independent — the seer felled — Dan 8:17–18; 10:9; Ezek 1:28
And he laid his right hand on me,independent — Dan 10:10 — the reviving touch, from the hand that holds the stars
saying,participial — the speech verb — everything to v. 20 hangs from this one word
"Do not fear;content — the theophanic reassurance — Dan 10:12
I am the first and the lastcontent — Isa 44:6; 48:12 — YHWH's own title, taken by the risen one
18
and the Living One.phrase modifier — the third predicate — the living God (Dan 12:7; Deut 32:40)
I was dead,content — the paradox — the Living One became a corpse
and behold, I am alive for ever and ever,content — ἰδού — resurrection announced as standing fact, with God's own 'for ever'
and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.content — the keys — Death and Hades unlocked from the inside; he holds what held him
19
Write, therefore,content — the commission — οὖν draws the warrant from vv. 17–18: the fearless may write
the things that you have seen,relative — first object — the vision just given
and the things that are,relative — second object — the present of the churches (chs. 2–3); read as a true threefold, not hendiadys
and the things that are about to take place after these.relative — third object — the book's programme (cf. 4:1 μετὰ ταῦτα)
20
As for the mystery of the seven starscontent — suspended accusative — casus pendens: 'as for the mystery' (Dan 2:47's word)
that you saw in my right hand,relative — the stars located — now ἐπί, on the open palm
and the seven golden lampstands:phrase modifier — coordinate with τὸ μυστήριον — the lampstands drawn into the riddle
the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,content — first identification — the stars decoded
and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."content — second identification — the churches themselves are the light-bearers among whom he walks
Analysis. Revelation's syntax is Semitic parataxis, and the shape shows it honestly: where Paul's sentences staircase, John's march down the left margin in καί-chains — the oracle of v. 7 and the narrative of vv. 10–17 are columns of flush-left purple, because coordination IS the book's grammar, and no subordination has been forced on it. Three structures organize the chapter. The prologue (vv. 1–3) hangs a chain of mediation from the verbless title Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ — God gave, to show, and he sign-ified, sending through the angel to John, who witnessed — before the first of the book's seven beatitudes closes it. The greeting (vv. 4–8) sets the three ἀπό-sources of grace side by side under χάρις, and here the layout flags rather than corrects the book's famous solecisms: ἀπὸ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος keeps its nominatives after the preposition because the divine Name is treated as indeclinable, and the three titles of Jesus stand in the nominative against their genitive head; in the doxology the finite ἐποίησεν breaks into the dative participial chain and is left standing. The vision (vv. 9–20) turns on two speech verbs — the trumpet-voice's λεγούσης and the risen one's λέγων — under which the commands and the Ich-Bin declarations hang as blue quoted content down to v. 20; between them the one-like-a-son-of-man is drawn as a verbless description column, seven features (head and hair, eyes, feet, voice, right hand, mouth, face) each on its own dashed line beneath the ὅμοιον υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου line, with the accusative-to-nominative slide, the hanging ἔχων, and the unattached genitive πεπυρωμένης all flagged in the tags. Interpretive choices: ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ is read as the Lord's day (Sunday), not the eschatological Day; ἃ εἰσὶν in v. 19 as 'the things that are' (a genuine threefold, not a hendiadys); and καὶ οἵτινες αὐτὸν ἐξεκέντησαν as an extension of πᾶς ὀφθαλμός — even the piercers see him.