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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

John 4:42

τῇ τε γυναικὶ ἔλεγον ὅτι οὐκέτι διὰ τὴν σὴν λαλιὰν πιστεύομεν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκηκόαμεν, καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου.

Rough Word-by-word:
to the and woman they were saying that no longer because of your own words being said we believe, ourselves for we have heard, and we know that this [man] is truly the savior [of] the world.

Smooth Translation:
and they were saying to the woman, "We believe no longer because of your own words, for we ourselves have heard, and we [ourselves] know that this is truly the savior of the world."

Notes:
The world has changed for these believers. They are talking continually. The pronouns are emphatic. Note the perfects. They've heard, they've believed and now they know.
It is truly amazing how the grammar makes these things stand out. I can not help but be reminded of the opening of John's first letter.

τῇ definite article dative singular feminine "the"

τε post positive conjunction "and/but"

γυναικὶ noun dative singular feminine "woman"

ἔλεγον verb imperfect active indicative 3rd plural from λέγω (I say) "they were saying"

ὅτι conjunction "that"

οὐκέτι compound adverb "no longer"

διὰ preposition with accusative "because of/ on account of"

τὴν definite article accusative singular feminine "the"

σὴν emphatic pronoun noun accusative singular feminine "your own"

λαλιὰν noun accusative singular feminine "what is said"

πιστεύομεν verb present active indicative 1st plural from πιστεύω (I believe) "we believe"

αὐτοὶ pronoun nominative plural masculine intensifying use "ourselves"

γὰρ post positive conjunction "for"

ἀκηκόαμεν verb perfect active indicative 1st plural from ἀκούω (I hear) "we have heard"

καὶ conjunction "and"

οἴδαμεν verb perfect active indicative 1st plural from εἴδω (I know) "we know"

ὅτι conjunction "that"

οὗτός demonstrative pronoun nominative singular masculine "this [man]"

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

ἀληθῶς adverb "truly"

definite article nominative singular masculine "the"

σωτὴρ noun nominative singular masculine "savior"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular neuter "the"

κόσμου noun genitive singular neuter "world"

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