| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a genitive absolute, genomenes de hemeras {Γενομένης δὲ ἡμέρας | geno-mé-nēs dè hē-mé-ras} “when day had come,” which sets a temporal frame independent of the main clause. The participle poiēsantes {ποιήσαντες | poi-ḗ-san-tes} “having formed” with its object systrophēn {συστροφὴν | sy-stro-phḗn} “conspiracy” precedes the subject hoi Ioudaioi {οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι | hoi I-ou-daî-oi}, forming a participial clause that gives background action leading up to the main verb. The finite verb anethematizan {ἀνεθεμάτισαν | a-ne-the-má-ti-san} “they put under a curse” is foregrounded as the central action, followed by the reflexive heautous {ἑαυτοὺς | he-au-toús}, indicating self-imprecation: they bind themselves rather than others. The present participle legontes {λέγοντες | lé-gon-tes} introduces indirect discourse that is rendered as a content clause in English. Within the content, the correlative pair mēte phagein mēte piein {μήτε φαγεῖν μήτε πιεῖν | mḗ-te pha-geîn mḗ-te pi-eîn} uses coordinated aorist infinitives after the verb of saying to express their vowed action (or non-action), which is best translated with a modal “would neither eat nor drink.” The clause heōs hou apokteinōsin ton Paulon {ἕως οὗ ἀποκτείνωσιν τὸν Παῦλον | hé-ōs hou a-pok-teí-nō-sin tón Paû-lon} uses heōs hou as a conjunctional sequence “until,” governing a subjunctive verb to mark a future contingency that sets the limit of the oath. English requires finite clauses for the participles and a more explicit temporal and causal relationship, so the participles are rendered with temporal subordination (“when day had come, having formed a conspiracy”) and the genitive absolute is translated as a temporal clause rather than a free-standing phrase. |