| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence begins with the adversative conjunction alla {ἀλλὰ | allà} ‘but’, which contrasts Paul’s actual ministry with the accusations just mentioned in the broader context. A series of dative phrases marks the recipients of his proclamation: tois en Damaskō {τοῖς ἐν Δαμασκῷ | toîs en Da-mas-kṓ} ‘to those in Damascus’, then Hierosolymois {Ἱεροσολύμοις | Hie-ro-so-lý-mois} ‘in Jerusalem’, followed by the expanded object pasan tēn chōran tēs Ioudaias {πᾶσάν τε τὴν χώραν τῆς Ἰουδαίας | pâ-san te tḕn khṓ-ran tês I-ou-daí-as} ‘all the region of Judea’, and finally tois ethnesin {τοῖς ἔθνεσιν | toîs éth-ne-sin} ‘to the nations, the Gentiles’. The placement of prōton {πρῶτόν | prô-ton} ‘first’ after the Damascus phrase sets a temporal sequence that moves outward geographically. The main verb apēngellon {ἀπήγγελλον | apḗn-gel-lon} ‘I was declaring’ in the imperfect tense portrays ongoing or repeated proclamation over time, rather than a single event. This verb governs two complementary infinitives, metanoein {μετανοεῖν | meta-noeîn} ‘to repent’ and epistrephein {ἐπιστρέφειν | e-pi-stré-phein} ‘to turn’, joined by kai {καὶ | kaí}, forming a coordinated call for inner change and reorientation. The prepositional phrase epi ton theon {ἐπὶ τὸν θεόν | epí tòn theón} ‘to God’ specifies the goal of this turning, emphasizing that the new direction of life is Godward rather than merely moral. The participial phrase axia tēs metanoias erga prassontas {ἄξια τῆς μετανοίας ἔργα πράσσοντας | áx-i-a tês meta-noí-as ér-ga prás-son-tas} functions circumstantially, describing how the hearers are to respond: by ‘doing works worthy of repentance’. The participle prassontas agrees with the implied people who repent and is rendered in English as a finite verb clause to make the sequence clear: their repentance must be evidenced by appropriate deeds. The English reconstructions preserve the progression from place to place, the ongoing nature of Paul’s preaching, the paired infinitives expressing the content of his message, and the requirement that genuine repentance produce observable works. |