| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the prepositional citation formula en to nomo {ἐν τῷ νόμῳ | en tôi nómō} “in the Law,” followed by the perfect impersonal verb gegraptai {γέγραπται | gégraptai} “it has been written,” which presents Scripture as a fixed, authoritative word. The conjunction hoti {ὅτι | hóti}, punctuated with a high dot (hoti·), functions as a quotation marker, introducing the divine speech as a unit. Within the quotation, two parallel prepositional phrases, en heteroglossois {ἐν ἑτερογλώσσοις | en heteroglṓssois} “in other tongues” and en cheilesin heteron {ἐν χείλεσιν ἑτέρων | en kheílesin hetérōn}, form a balanced construction, with the datives marking instrument or agency, emphasizing that God’s speech will come through foreign media. The future indicative laleso {λαλήσω | lalḗsō} “I will speak” takes the dative indirect object to lao touto {τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ | tôi laō toútō} “to this people,” where the demonstrative “this” singles out a specific, covenant people. The coordinating kai with the contracted negative oud {καὶ οὐδʼ | kaí oud} plus the adverb houtos {οὕτως | hoútōs} yields “and not even so,” an intensified contrastive clause introducing eisakousontai {εἰσακούσονταί | eisakoúsontai} “they will listen,” whose deponent middle form stresses their future, culpable refusal. The closing direct-speech tag legei kyrios {λέγει κύριος | légei kýrios} “says the Lord” places the entire citation under the immediate, present authority of the Lord’s voice. English word order preserves the sequence of citation formula, introduced quotation, and concluding divine attribution, while rendering the Greek parallelism and contrast (“in other tongues … and in the lips of others … and not even so”) with clear connectors. |