independentparticipialrelativecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase 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 open door — ‘Come up here’ 4:1–2a
1
After these things I looked,independent — εἶδον — the seer's verb; a new vision opens
and behold, a door standing open in heaven —independent — ἰδοὺ + nominative tableau — the door simply there, no verb; perfect ἠνεῳγμένη: already open
and the first voice,independent — second tableau — the trumpet-voice of 1:10 re-enters, still verbless
which I had heardrelative — on ἡ φωνὴ ἡ πρώτη — the voice already known
like a trumpet speaking with me,comparative — ὡς σάλπιγγος — the comparison of 1:10 repeated verbatim
saying:participial — solecism — masculine λέγων with feminine φωνή: the speaker behind the voice, not the noun, governs the gender
‘Come up here,content — the summons — Ἀνάβα, up through the open door
and I will show youcontent — the promise — δείξω echoes the book's opening commission (1:1)
what must take place after these things.’relative — on δείξω — ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι, the divine necessity (Dan 2:28–29)
2
At once I was in the Spirit,independent — ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι — the seer's transport, as at 1:10
The throne and its court 4:2b–8a
vv. 2b–3 — the throne, and the One seated: jasper, carnelian, emerald
and behold, a throne stood in heaven,independent — ἔκειτο — the tableau's one finite verb: the throne simply set there
and on the throne one seated —independent — nominative καθήμενος, no verb — the Enthroned never named, only seated
3
and the one seated like jasper and carnelian stone in appearance,independent — verbless comparison — gemlight in place of a form (Ezek 1:26–27)
and a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.independent — solecism — masculine ὅμοιος with feminine ἶρις; the covenant bow (Gen 9:13; Ezek 1:28)
v. 4 — the twenty-four elders
4
And around the throne, twenty-four thrones,independent — case-jumble — accusative θρόνους beside nominative τέσσαρες: the tableau's grammar slips, uncorrected
and on the thrones, twenty-four elders seated,independent — accusatives — as if εἶδον still governed the vision
clothed in white garments,participial — the victors' dress (3:5, 18)
and on their heads, golden crowns.independent — στεφάνους — the wreaths that v. 10 will surrender
vv. 5–6a — before the throne: storm, torches, the sea of glass
5
And from the throne come flashes of lightning and voices and peals of thunder;independent — the Sinai storm (Exod 19:16) — a finite present amid the tableaux; the refrain of 8:5; 11:19; 16:18
and seven torches of fire burning before the throne,independent — verbless again — καιόμεναι, the lamps of Ezek 1:13
which are the seven spirits of God,relative — solecism — neuter ἅ with feminine λαμπάδες: the identification (1:4; Zech 4:2–10) overrides agreement
6
and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.independent — ὡς hedges the whole — everything is only ‘like’; the firmament of Ezek 1:22
vv. 6b–8a — the four living creatures
And in the midst of the throne and around the throne, four living creaturesindependent — Ezekiel's cherubim (Ezek 1:5) posted at the throne itself
full of eyes in front and behind.participial — γέμοντα ὀφθαλμῶν — all-seeing vigilance (Ezek 1:18; 10:12)
7
and the first living creature like a lion,independent — the four faces, one verbless line each — the lion
and the second living creature like an ox,independent — the ox
and the third living creature with its face as a man's,independent — the man — masculine ἔχων with neuter ζῷον, flagged not corrected
and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.independent — the eagle — Ezekiel's four faces (Ezek 1:10) dealt out one apiece
8
And the four living creatures,independent — the subject held forward — suspended over its verb two lines below
each one of them having six wings apiece,participial — solecism — ἓν καθ᾽ ἓν... ἔχων, masculine singular for neuter plural; Isaiah's six-winged seraphim (Isa 6:2)
are full of eyes all around and within,independent — γέμουσιν — the verb arrives and resumes the suspended subject
The ceaseless worship 4:8b–11
v. 8b — the trisagion, without rest
and they have no rest day and night,independent — ἀνάπαυσιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν — the liturgy never stops
saying:participial — λέγοντες carries the hymn
‘Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty,content — the trisagion — Isa 6:3, a verbless acclamation; παντοκράτωρ for צבאות
who was and who is and who is to come.’phrase modifier — the name-in-time (1:4, 8), here with ὁ ἦν first — article + finite verb, the indeclinable formula worn as a name
vv. 9–11 — the elders cast their crowns: the Ἄξιος hymn
9
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one seated on the throne,conditional — temporal frame leaning on πεσοῦνται below — ὅταν with future indicative δώσουσιν, a solecism; the futures paint the ever-repeated act
to the one who lives forever and ever,phrase modifier — apposition — the Enthroned is the Living One (Dan 4:34; 12:7)
10
the twenty-four elders will fall down before the one seated on the throneindependent — apodosis of the ὅταν frame — πεσοῦνται
and will worship the one who lives forever and ever,independent — προσκυνήσουσιν — the appositional title repeated verbatim from v. 9
and will cast their crowns before the throne,independent — the crowns of v. 4 returned to their giver
saying:participial — λέγοντες carries the second hymn
11
‘Worthy are you,content — Ἄξιος εἶ — acclamation in the court style of the emperors, redirected
our Lord and God,phrase modifier — nominative for vocative — ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, Domitian's dominus et deus noster reclaimed for the throne
to receive the glory and the honor and the power,content — epexegetic infinitive — what the Worthy One is worthy of
for you created all things,cause — the ground — worthiness rooted in creation, σὺ emphatic
and by your will they existed and were created.’cause — the coordinate ground — ἦσαν καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν: they were, and were created, both by his will
Analysis. Revelation 4 is a vision, and the shape shows it: almost nothing is a sentence. After the two seer-verbs that open each half of the frame (εἶδον v. 1, ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι v. 2), the throne room builds as a flush-left καί-chain of verbless nominative tableaux — dashed line after dashed line: the open door, the first voice, the One seated, the rainbow, the twenty-four thrones, the torches, the sea of glass, the four faces one per line — Semitic parataxis, with only rare finite verbs breaking through (ἔκειτο v. 2, the Sinai storm's ἐκπορεύονται v. 5, γέμουσιν v. 8). The two hymns hang as blue quoted columns under their speech-participles: the trisagion under the λέγοντες of the unresting creatures, the Ἄξιος hymn under the λέγοντες of the prostrate elders, each with its grounds stacked beneath. John's solecisms are flagged, not corrected: masculine λέγων with feminine φωνή (v. 1), masculine ὅμοιος with feminine ἶρις (v. 3), accusative θρόνους beside nominative τέσσαρες (v. 4), neuter ἅ with feminine λαμπάδες (v. 5), masculine ἔχων with neuter ζῷον/ζῷα (vv. 7, 8), the indeclinable ὁ ἦν (v. 8), ὅταν with the future indicative (v. 9), and the nominative-for-vocative ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν (v. 11). The one structural choice of weight: the ὅταν frame of v. 9 is laid out like a protasis, leaning forward with no anchor on the future πεσοῦνται sequence of v. 10 — the futures describing not one event but the liturgy's perpetual round.