Ὅτι ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ κρίσεις αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἔκρινε τὴν πόρνην τὴν μεγάλην, ἥτις διέφθειρε τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐξεδίκησε τὸ αἷμα τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῆς. (Revelation 19:2)
Because true and righteous are His judgments, for He judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants from her hand.
Declensions as Theological Architecture
This verse delivers a proclamation of divine justice, structured through a series of precise case usages. Nominatives frame the truth of God’s judgments, accusatives identify the objects of His action, genitives mark possession and origin, and datives provide the arena or means of corruption.
Declension Analysis Table
| Greek Word | Morphology | Case & Syntactic Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἀληθιναί | Adjective, nominative feminine plural | Predicate adjective with εἰσίν implied | Describes κρίσεις as “true” |
| δίκαιαι | Adjective, nominative feminine plural | Predicate adjective with εἰσίν implied | Describes κρίσεις as “righteous” |
| αἱ κρίσεις | Noun, nominative feminine plural with article | Subject of the implied copula | “The judgments” — referring to divine verdicts |
| αὐτοῦ | 3rd person pronoun, genitive masculine singular | Genitive of possession | “His” — referring to God |
| τὴν πόρνην | Noun, accusative feminine singular with article | Direct object of ἔκρινε | “The prostitute” — symbolic of Babylon |
| τὴν μεγάλην | Adjective, accusative feminine singular | Attributive modifying πόρνην | “The great” — intensifies her symbolic significance |
| ἥτις | Relative pronoun, nominative feminine singular | Subject of διέφθειρε | Qualifies “the great prostitute” with an explanatory clause |
| τὴν γῆν | Noun, accusative feminine singular with article | Direct object of διέφθειρε | “The earth” — scope of corruption |
| ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ | Preposition + noun, dative feminine singular with article | Dative of means or manner | “By/with her fornication” — the method of corruption |
| αὐτῆς (first occurrence) | 3rd person pronoun, genitive feminine singular | Genitive of possession | Belonging to “the great prostitute” |
| τὸ αἷμα | Noun, accusative neuter singular with article | Direct object of ἐξεδίκησε | “The blood” — metonymy for lives taken |
| τῶν δούλων | Noun, genitive masculine plural with article | Genitive of possession or relationship | “Of His servants” — those wronged |
| αὐτοῦ (second occurrence) | 3rd person pronoun, genitive masculine singular | Genitive of possession | Refers again to God as owner of the servants |
| ἐκ χειρός | Preposition + noun, genitive feminine singular | Genitive of source | “From the hand” — source or agency of violence |
| αὐτῆς (second occurrence) | 3rd person pronoun, genitive feminine singular | Genitive of possession | Hand belonging to the great prostitute |
Genitives Framing Ownership and Agency
The genitives here fall into two domains: divine possession (αὐτοῦ with κρίσεις and δούλων) and the agency of evil (ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῆς). This contrast heightens the moral polarity of the passage.
Accusatives Pinpointing Divine Action
The accusatives (τὴν πόρνην, τὴν γῆν, τὸ αἷμα) identify the specific targets of God’s judgment and vengeance. They move from the person judged, to the scope of her corruption, to the life-blood for which justice is exacted.
Nominatives Declaring Character
The nominative adjectives ἀληθιναί and δίκαιαι predicate qualities to God’s judgments, asserting their moral perfection. This nominative frame begins the verse with theological weight before moving into judicial specifics.
Grammar as the Lattice of Justice
The interplay of nominative declarations, accusative judgments, and genitive attributions constructs a lattice where divine justice is both proclaimed and enacted. The morphology itself reflects the theological symmetry: truth and righteousness in the nominative lead to precise, targeted justice in the accusative, sourced from the genitive realms of God’s authority and Babylon’s hand.
