| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the concessive particle kaitoi {καίτοι | kaí-toi} ‘yet, nevertheless’, which connects this statement to the preceding warning and introduces a contrast: despite human ignorance, divine goodness is still evident. The phrase ouk amarturon {οὐκ ἀμάρτυρον | ouk a-már-ty-ron} ‘not without witness’ uses a litotes (negated opposite) to strongly affirm that there is indeed clear testimony. The object hauton {αὑτὸν | hau-tón} ‘Himself’ refers back to the living God mentioned in the prior context, and the aorist verb apheken {ἀφῆκεν | a-phê-ken} functions as a gnomic or timeless aorist, summarizing God’s consistent way of acting in history.
The participle agathourgōn {ἀγαθουργῶν | a-ga-thour-gôn} ‘doing good’ stands in nominative agreement with the implied subject (God) and is followed by two more nominative participles, didous {διδοὺς | di-doús} ‘giving’ and empiplōn {ἐμπιπλῶν | em-pi-plôn} ‘filling’. Together they form a participial chain that unpacks how God bears witness to Himself: by acts of ongoing generosity. Ouranothen {οὐρανόθεν | ou-ra-nó-then} ‘from heaven’ functions adverbially, marking the transcendent yet tangible source of the gifts, while the dative hymin {ὑμῖν | hy-mîn} ‘to you’ directs the flow of benefits toward the hearers.
The direct objects hyetous {ὑετοὺς | hy-e-toús} ‘rains’ and kairous karpophorous {καιροὺς καρποφόρους | kai-roús kar-po-phó-rous} ‘fruitful seasons’ specify agricultural provision, crucial in an agrarian setting. The final participle empiplōn governs the accusative phrase tas kardias hymōn {τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν | tas kar-dí-as hy-môn} ‘your hearts’ and is modified by the genitives trophēs {τροφῆς | tro-phês} ‘of food’ and euphrosynēs {εὐφροσύνης | eu-phro-sý-nēs} ‘of gladness’, indicating what fills the hearts: both material sustenance and inner joy. In translation, the participles are preserved as coordinated verbal ideas (“doing good… giving… filling”) to retain the sense of continuous divine action, while word order is slightly adjusted for natural English flow but keeps the concessive opening, the negated-witness expression, and the sequence of divine gifts. |