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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

John 1:39

λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἔρχεσθε καὶ ὄψεσθε. ἦλθαν οὖν καὶ εἶδαν ποῦ μένει, καὶ παρ' αὐτῷ ἔμειναν τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην· ὥρα ἦν ὡς δεκάτη.
He said to them, "You all come and see." They came therefore and saw where he abides, and with him they remained the day that. The hour she was as tenth.

λέγει verb present active indicative 3rd singular from λέγω (I say) "He said"

αὐτοῖς pronoun dative masculine plural "to them"

ἔρχεσθε verb present middle deponent imperative 2nd plural from ἔρχομαι (I come) "you all come"

καὶ conjunction "and"

ὄψεσθε verb future middle indicative 2nd plural from ὁράω (I see) "you will see" (Note: Rogers and Rogers parses this as a future middle imperative 2nd plural)

ἦλθαν verb aorist active indicative 3rd plural from ἔρχομαι (I come) "they came"

οὖν conjunction "therefore"

καὶ conjunction "and"

εἶδαν verb aorist active indicative 3rd plural from ὁράω (I see) "they saw"

ποῦ particle "where"

μένει verb present active indicative 3rd singular from μένω (I abide/I remain) "he abides/he remains" (I take this as historic present, but wonder if John isn't saying something here with his use of the present active indicative about Jesus' abiding/remaining eternalness. In the midst of the aorists it seems to stick out.)

καὶ conjunction "and"

παρ' preposition with dative "with"

αὐτῷ pronoun dative masculine singular "him"

ἔμειναν verb aorist active indicative 3rd plural from μένω (I abide/I remain) "they abode/they remained"

τὴν definite article accusative feminine singular "the"

ἡμέραν noun accusative feminine singular "day"

ἐκείνην demonstrative pronoun accusative feminine singular "that"

ὥρα noun nominative feminine singular "hour"

ἦν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "she was"

ὡς adverb "as"

δεκάτη adjective nominative feminine singular "tenth" (predicate nominative)

Rough Word-by-word:
He said to them you all come and you all will see they came therefore and saw where he abides/he remains and with him they abode/they remained the day that hour she was as tenth

Smooth Translation:
He said to them, "Come and see." Therefore they came and saw where he remained and they remained with him that day. It was as the tenth hour.

Notes:
There is somewhat of a different sense depending on whether we take Jesus' statement as indicative or imperative. We could overpress the difference, however. There were those who came to Jesus seeking to find fault who were blinded by their arrogance and pride (I'm thinking of John 9 here), but those who come to Jesus with true motives, I believe, find their eyes opened and their lives forever changed as an unfolding consequence of their coming.

It just is exciting to me to see how grammar can speak theologically.

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