| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the temporal prepositional phrase meta tas hemeras tautas {Μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ταύτας | Me-tà tàs hē-mé-ras taú-tas} ‘after these days,’ where the preposition meta governs the accusative to mark sequence, and the demonstrative tautas specifies a previously mentioned period. The conjunction de {δὲ | dè} links this clause to the prior narrative as a mild connective. The aorist middle participle episkeuasamenoi {ἐπισκευασάμενοι | e-pi-skeu-a-sá-me-noi} functions adverbially, indicating an action completed before the main verb, with the middle voice highlighting the subjects’ involvement in preparation. The imperfect verb anebainomen {ἀνεβαίνομεν | a-ne-baí-no-men} portrays the ascent as an ongoing journey rather than a point action. The prepositional phrase eis Hierosolyma {εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα | eis Hi-e-ro-só-ly-ma} expresses movement toward a goal, where “up” conveys both the literal elevation and the religious nuance of pilgrimage. |