οὔτε

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 οὔτε

   OU-te

   neither
2. sentence🔊 καὶ οὔτε ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ εὗρόν με πρός τινα διαλεγόμενον ἢ ⸀ἐπίστασιν ποιοῦντα ὄχλου οὔτε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς οὔτε κατὰ τὴν πόλιν,

   KAI OU-te en tôi hi-e-ROI heu-RON me pros ti-na di-a-le-GO-me-non ê e-PI-sta-sin poi-OUN-ta O-khlou OU-te en TAIS sy-na-gô-GAIS OU-te ka-TA tên PO-lin

   and neither in the temple they found me toward someone disputing or an uprising making of a crowd nor in the synagogues nor throughout the city

Exegesis

The sentence begins with the coordinating conjunction kai {καὶ | kaí} linking Paul’s words to his larger defense, immediately followed by oute {οὔτε | oú-te}, which introduces the first element in a series of correlative negatives.

The subsequent coordinate phrases with repeated oute—oute en tais synagogais {οὔτε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς | oú-te en taîs sy-na-gō-gais} and oute kata tēn polin {οὔτε κατὰ τὴν πόλιν | oú-te ka-tà tēn pó-lin}—extend the denial beyond the temple to synagogues and then distributively “throughout the city.” This threefold negation, marked by the rhythmic repetition of oute, strengthens the legal point: in no recognized public venue did they ever observe Paul engaging in the activities of which he is accused. In English, the participial phrases are rendered as finite verbal complements (“engaging with anyone in discussion,” “causing an uprising”) to keep the flow natural while preserving their close dependence on “they found me.”