Acts 23:14 — ExegesisTAB

The verse opens with the relative pronoun hoitines {οἵτινες | hoí-ti-nes}, which functions substantivally as “those who,” identifying the conspirators as a distinct group characterized by their subsequent action. The aorist active participle proselthontes {προσελθόντες | proselthóntes} is adverbial and temporally prior to the main verb eipan {εἶπαν | eîpan}, giving the sequence “after coming, they said.” The coordinated dative phrase tois archiereusin kai tois presbyterois {τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσιν καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις | toîs archiereûsin kaí toîs presbutérois} marks the chief priests and the elders, the leadership of the Jewish council, as the recipients of the approach and speech. The finite verb eipan introduces the direct quotation that details the content of the conspirators’ vow. Within the speech, Anathemati {Ἀναθέματι | Anathémati} followed immediately by anethematísamen {ἀνεθεματίσαμεν | anethematísamen} creates a compact, emphatic structure (“with a curse we have placed under a curse”), whose repetition of the same root intensifies the seriousness of their self-imposed ban. The reflexive pronoun heautous {ἑαυτοὺς | heautoús} highlights that the binding is voluntary and self-directed. The infinitival phrase medenos geusasthai {μηδενὸς γεύσασθαι | mēdenòs geúsasthai} uses the genitive of the indefinite pronoun with the aorist middle infinitive to mean “to taste nothing at all,” expressing complete abstention from food. The temporal construction heos hou {ἕως οὗ | héōs hoû} introduces a clause that sets the limit of this abstention: it will last “until” the action expressed by the aorist subjunctive apokteinomen {ἀποκτείνωμεν | apokteínōmen}, “we might kill,” is fulfilled. The object ton Paulon {τὸν Παῦλον | tón Paûlon} specifies that Paul is the intended victim of the conspiracy. In translation, the participle is rendered as a finite verb (“came”) for narrative clarity, the infinitival clause is expressed idiomatically as “not to eat anything,” and the force of the anathema is conveyed through wording that preserves the solemn and violent tone of this murderous vow.