| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the demonstrative touto {τοῦτο | toû-to} “this,” which links the statement to the preceding incident, followed by the aorist verb egeneto {ἐγένετο | egéneto} “it happened,” forming an initial clause that marks a completed historical event. The predicate adjective gnoston {γνωστὸν | gnōstón} “known” is complemented by the dative chain pasin Ioudaiois te kai Hellesin {πᾶσιν Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ Ἕλλησιν | pâ-sin Iou-daí-ois te kaì Héllē-sin}, which distributes the audience across “all the Jews and also the Greeks” and stresses the breadth of awareness. The participial phrase tois katoikousin tēn Epheson {τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν τὴν Ἔφεσον | toîs katoi-koû-sin tḕn É-phe-son} functions adjectivally, specifying that these Jews and Greeks are those residing in Ephesus. The next clause, epepesen phobos epi pantas autous {ἐπέπεσεν φόβος ἐπὶ πάντας αὐτούς | e-pé-pe-sen phó-bos epì pán-tas au-toús}, employs an intransitive aorist verb with the nominative subject phobos and a prepositional phrase governing accusative objects to portray fear as something that “fell upon” the entire group, emphasizing suddenness and intensity. The final clause, emegalynthē to onoma tou kyriou Iesou {ἐμεγαλύνθη τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ | emegalýnthē tò ó-no-ma tou ky-rí-ou Iē-soû}, uses a passive verb often understood as a divine passive, indicating that the name of the Lord Jesus was “magnified,” that is, came to be highly honored. The genitive phrase tou kyriou Iesou closely associates “the name” with the Lord Jesus, highlighting that the communal fear leads directly to an increase in public honor for His name. The English renderings preserve the three coordinated clauses introduced by “and,” while adjusting word order into a natural subject–verb–object pattern and maintaining the universal scope and the cause-and-effect progression from knowledge, to fear, to honor. |