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
Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον,independent — εἶδον — the seer's verb; a new vision opens
καὶ ἰδοὺ θύρα ἠνεῳγμένη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ,independent — ἰδοὺ + nominative tableau — the door simply there, no verb; perfect ἠνεῳγμένη: already open
καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ἡ πρώτηindependent — second tableau — the trumpet-voice of 1:10 re-enters, still verbless
ἣν ἤκουσαrelative — on ἡ φωνὴ ἡ πρώτη — the voice already known
ὡς σάλπιγγος λαλούσης μετ’ ἐμοῦcomparative — ὡς σάλπιγγος — the comparison of 1:10 repeated verbatim
λέγων·participial — solecism — masculine λέγων with feminine φωνή: the speaker behind the voice, not the noun, governs the gender
Ἀνάβα ὧδε,content — the summons — Ἀνάβα, up through the open door
καὶ δείξω σοιcontent — the promise — δείξω echoes the book's opening commission (1:1)
ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα.relative — on δείξω — ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι, the divine necessity (Dan 2:28–29)
2
εὐθέως ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι·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
καὶ ἰδοὺ θρόνος ἔκειτο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ,independent — ἔκειτο — the tableau's one finite verb: the throne simply set there
καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον καθήμενος,independent — nominative καθήμενος, no verb — the Enthroned never named, only seated
3
καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ὅμοιος ὁράσει λίθῳ ἰάσπιδι καὶ σαρδίῳ,independent — verbless comparison — gemlight in place of a form (Ezek 1:26–27)
καὶ ἶρις κυκλόθεν τοῦ θρόνου ὅμοιος ὁράσει σμαραγδίνῳ.independent — solecism — masculine ὅμοιος with feminine ἶρις; the covenant bow (Gen 9:13; Ezek 1:28)
v. 4 — the twenty-four elders
4
καὶ κυκλόθεν τοῦ θρόνου θρόνους εἴκοσι τέσσαρες,independent — case-jumble — accusative θρόνους beside nominative τέσσαρες: the tableau's grammar slips, uncorrected
καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς θρόνους εἴκοσι τέσσαρας πρεσβυτέρους καθημένουςindependent — accusatives — as if εἶδον still governed the vision
περιβεβλημένους ἐν ἱματίοις λευκοῖς,participial — the victors' dress (3:5, 18)
καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν στεφάνους χρυσοῦς.independent — στεφάνους — the wreaths that v. 10 will surrender
vv. 5–6a — before the throne: storm, torches, the sea of glass
5
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου ἐκπορεύονται ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί·independent — the Sinai storm (Exod 19:16) — a finite present amid the tableaux; the refrain of 8:5; 11:19; 16:18
καὶ ἑπτὰ λαμπάδες πυρὸς καιόμεναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου,independent — verbless again — καιόμεναι, the lamps of Ezek 1:13
ἅ εἰσιν τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ,relative — solecism — neuter ἅ with feminine λαμπάδες: the identification (1:4; Zech 4:2–10) overrides agreement
6
καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου ὡς θάλασσα ὑαλίνη ὁμοία κρυστάλλῳ.independent — ὡς hedges the whole — everything is only ‘like’; the firmament of Ezek 1:22
vv. 6b–8a — the four living creatures
Καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ κύκλῳ τοῦ θρόνου τέσσαρα ζῷαindependent — Ezekiel's cherubim (Ezek 1:5) posted at the throne itself
γέμοντα ὀφθαλμῶν ἔμπροσθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν.participial — γέμοντα ὀφθαλμῶν — all-seeing vigilance (Ezek 1:18; 10:12)
7
καὶ τὸ ζῷον τὸ πρῶτον ὅμοιον λέοντι,independent — the four faces, one verbless line each — the lion
καὶ τὸ δεύτερον ζῷον ὅμοιον μόσχῳ,independent — the ox
καὶ τὸ τρίτον ζῷον ἔχων τὸ πρόσωπον ὡς ἀνθρώπου,independent — the man — masculine ἔχων with neuter ζῷον, flagged not corrected
καὶ τὸ τέταρτον ζῷον ὅμοιον ἀετῷ πετομένῳ.independent — the eagle — Ezekiel's four faces (Ezek 1:10) dealt out one apiece
8
καὶ τὰ τέσσαρα ζῷα,independent — the subject held forward — suspended over its verb two lines below
ἓν καθ’ ἓν αὐτῶν ἔχων ἀνὰ πτέρυγας ἕξ,participial — solecism — ἓν καθ᾽ ἓν... ἔχων, masculine singular for neuter plural; Isaiah's six-winged seraphim (Isa 6:2)
κυκλόθεν καὶ ἔσωθεν γέμουσιν ὀφθαλμῶν,independent — γέμουσιν — the verb arrives and resumes the suspended subject
The ceaseless worship 4:8b–11
v. 8b — the trisagion, without rest
καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸςindependent — ἀνάπαυσιν οὐκ ἔχουσιν — the liturgy never stops
λέγοντες·participial — λέγοντες carries the hymn
Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ,content — the trisagion — Isa 6:3, a verbless acclamation; παντοκράτωρ for צבאות
ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος.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
Καὶ ὅταν δώσουσιν τὰ ζῷα δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ εὐχαριστίαν τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπὶ τῷ θρόνῳ,conditional — temporal frame leaning on πεσοῦνται below — ὅταν with future indicative δώσουσιν, a solecism; the futures paint the ever-repeated act
τῷ ζῶντι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων,phrase modifier — apposition — the Enthroned is the Living One (Dan 4:34; 12:7)
10
πεσοῦνται οἱ εἴκοσι τέσσαρες πρεσβύτεροι ἐνώπιον τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνουindependent — apodosis of the ὅταν frame — πεσοῦνται
καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν τῷ ζῶντι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων,independent — προσκυνήσουσιν — the appositional title repeated verbatim from v. 9
καὶ βαλοῦσιν τοὺς στεφάνους αὐτῶν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνουindependent — the crowns of v. 4 returned to their giver
λέγοντες·participial — λέγοντες carries the second hymn
11
Ἄξιος εἶ,content — Ἄξιος εἶ — acclamation in the court style of the emperors, redirected
ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν,phrase modifier — nominative for vocative — ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, Domitian's dominus et deus noster reclaimed for the throne
λαβεῖν τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν,content — epexegetic infinitive — what the Worthy One is worthy of
ὅτι σὺ ἔκτισας τὰ πάντα,cause — the ground — worthiness rooted in creation, σὺ emphatic
καὶ διὰ τὸ θέλημά σου ἦσαν καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν.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.