| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verb marturo {Μαρτυρῶ | martyrō} ‘I testify’ appears with ego {ἐγὼ | egō} ‘I’ to assert John’s personal witness. The ethical dative phrase panti tō akouonti {παντὶ τῷ ἀκούοντι | panti tō akouonti} ‘to everyone who hears’ identifies hearers as morally responsible. A genitive chain tous logous tēs prophēteias tou bibliou toutou {τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου | tous logous tēs prophēteías tou bibliou toútou} ‘the words of the prophecy of this book’ specifies content and source. The protasis ean tis epithē {ἐάν τις ἐπιθῇ | ean tis epithē} ‘if anyone should add’ uses the aorist subjunctive for open warning, mirrored by the future indicative epithēsei {ἐπιθήσει | epithēsei} ‘he will add’ as certain divine response. The chiastic parallel of epʼ autá (ἐπʼ αὐτά) and epʼ auton (ἐπʼ αὐτὸν) frames human addition and divine retribution. The perfect passive participle gegrammenas {γεγραμμένας | gegramménas} ‘having been written’ anchors the plagues as already inscribed en tō bibliō toutō {ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ | en tō biblíō toútō}, forming an inclusio that reinforces the text’s inviolability. |