| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence begins with the aorist passive verb eschisthē {ἐσχίσθη | es-khís-thē} “was divided,” fronting the verb to emphasize the decisive rupture affecting the subject, the phrase to plēthos tēs poleōs {τὸ πλῆθος τῆς πόλεως | to plê-thos tēs pó-le-ōs} “the multitude of the city.” The particle de {δὲ | de} links this development to the preceding context while signaling a slight contrast. The coordinated structure kai hoi men … hoi de … {καὶ οἱ μὲν … οἱ δὲ … | kaí hoi men … hoi de …} forms a balanced correlative pair, dividing the populace into two contrasted groups. The imperfect ēsan {ἦσαν | ê-san} “they were” portrays an ongoing state of alignment rather than a momentary choice. Each group is marked by a prepositional phrase with syn {σὺν | syn} plus the dative: syn tois Ioudaiois {σὺν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις | syn toîs I-ou-daí-ois} “with the Jews” and syn tois apostolois {σὺν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις | syn toîs a-pó-sto-lois} “with the apostles,” creating parallelism that underscores the stark division of loyalties. In translation, the men/de contrast is rendered with “some … but others …” and “some … while others …,” making explicit the two-party split latent in the Greek correlative construction while preserving the focus on group allegiance. |