| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with kai {καί | kaí} linking this action tightly to the preceding speech. The participial phrase tauta legontes {ταῦτα λέγοντες | taû-ta lé-gon-tes} functions temporally and circumstantially, “as they were saying these things,” indicating that the attempt to restrain the people happened concurrently with their words. The adverb molis {μόλις | mó-lis} precedes the main verb katepausan {κατέπαυσαν | ka-té-pau-san}, giving adverbial focus to the difficulty of the action. The aorist katepausan presents their restraining as a single, decisive event. The object tous ochlous {τοὺς ὄχλους | toús ó-chlous} identifies the group under control, highlighting the mass response. The articular infinitive construction tou me thuein {τοῦ μὴ θύειν | toû mḕ thú-ein} depends on katepausan; with a verb of hindering, the genitive articular infinitive expresses prevention or result, “so that they did not sacrifice.” The negative particle me {μὴ | mḕ} scopes over thuein, indicating the action that was successfully stopped. The dative autois {αὐτοῖς | au-toîs} marks the intended recipients of the sacrifices, bringing out the irony that the apostles had to work hard to stop worshipful misdirected offerings to themselves. In translation, the participial clause is rendered as a temporal subordinate clause, and the articular infinitive is represented by an English prepositional phrase (“from sacrificing / from offering sacrifices”) that naturally conveys prevention. |