| 30. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the temporal dative phrase tē de epaurion {Τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον | Tē dè epaúrion} ‘on the next day’, indicating a new narrative phase. The participle boulomenos {βουλόμενος | boulómenos} ‘wanting’ modifies the implied subject (the Roman commander) and governs the infinitive gnōnai {γνῶναι | gnônai} ‘to know’, expressing purpose. Its object is the double-article accusative structure to asphales to ti katēgoreitai hypo tōn Ioudaiōn {τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τὸ τί κατηγορεῖται ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων | tò asphalés tò tí katēgoreîtai hypò tōn Ioudaíōn}, where the first article with asphales emphasizes firmness (‘certainty’) and the second with ti marks specificity (‘what’) of the accusation, with the passive verb katēgoreitai and the agent phrase hypo tōn Ioudaiōn specifying the Jews as accusers. The aorist indicatives elusen {ἔλυσεν | élusen} ‘he loosed’ and ekéleusen {ἐκέλευσεν | ekéleusen} ‘he ordered’ present decisive sequential actions. The infinitive synelthein {συνελθεῖν | syneltheîn} functions as an infinitive of indirect command taking the accusative pair tous archiereis kai pan to synedrion {τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ πᾶν τὸ συνέδριον | toús archiereîs kaì pân tò synédrion}. The circumstantial aorist participle katagagōn {καταγαγών | katagagṓn} ‘having brought down’ precedes the main verb estēsen {ἔστησεν | éstēsen} ‘he set’, indicating that Paul is moved into place before the council, rendered by the prepositional phrase eis autous {εἰς αὐτούς | eis autoús}. In translation, boulomenos and katagagōn are rendered as finite subordinate clauses (“wanting to ascertain,” “then he brought Paul down and had him stand”) to reflect their causal and temporal relations naturally, and the double-article construction is mirrored by pairing “certainty” with an expression of the legal claims. |