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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

John 1:47

εἶδεν Ἰησοῦς τὸν Ναθαναὴλ ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ λέγει περὶ αὐτοῦ· ἴδε ἀληθῶς Ἰσραηλείτης, ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἔστιν.

Rough Word-by-word:
he saw Jesus the Nathanael as he was coming toward him and he says concerning him, "Look truly an Israelite in whom guile not is."

Smooth Translation:
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said concerning him, "Look, truly an Israelite in whom is no guile."

Note: Jesus saw Nathanael and wanted others to see Nathanael. I think Jesus sees us and wants others to see us. He points others to look. A δόλος was a bait used to trick fish, thus its translation as "guile" or "deceit." The adverb ἀληθῶς is dramatically opposite and I take this as a tremendous encouragement to genuineness and honesty in our lives. These are traits Jesus notices and wants others to notice.

εἶδεν
verb aorist active indicative 3rd singular from ὁράω (I see) "he saw"

Ἰησοῦς proper noun nominative masculine singular "Jesus"

τὸν definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

Ναθαναὴλ proper noun accusative masculine singular "Nathanael"

ἐρχόμενον present passive participle accusative masculine singular from ἔρχομαι (I come) "as he was coming"

πρὸς accusative preposition "to/toward"

αὐτὸν pronoun accusative masculine singular "him"

καὶ conjunction "and"

λέγει verb present active indicative 3rd singular from λέγω (I say) "he says"

περὶ preposition with genitive "concerning"

αὐτοῦ pronoun genitive masculine singular "him"

ἴδε verb aorist active imperative 2nd singular from ὁράω (I see) "Look"

ἀληθῶς adverb "truly"

Ἰσραηλείτης proper noun nominative masculine singular "an Israelite"

ἐν dative preposition "in"

relative pronoun dative masculine singular "whom"

δόλος noun nominative masculine singular "guile"

οὐκ negative particle "not"

ἔστιν verb present indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί (I am) "he is"

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