ἡ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἡ

   hê

   the
2. sentence🔊 ὡς δὲ εἶδον οἱ βάρβαροι κρεμάμενον τὸ θηρίον ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔλεγον Πάντως φονεύς ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος ὃν διασωθέντα ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης ἡ δίκη ζῆν οὐκ εἴασεν

   hôs de EI-don hoi BAR-ba-roi kre-MA-me-non to thê-RI-on ek tês khei-ROS au-TOU pros al-LÊ-lous E-le-gon PAN-tôs pho-NEUS es-TIN ho AN-thrô-pos HOU-tos hon di-a-sô-THEN-ta ek tês tha-LAS-sês hê DI-kê zên ouk EI-a-sen

   when but they saw the native people hanging the creature from the hand of him to one another they were saying certainly a murderer is the man this whom having been saved from the sea the Justice to live not allowed

Exegesis

The subject hē dikē {ἡ δίκη | hē dí-kē} ‘Justice’ is personified and functions almost as a proper name, with the verb eiasen {εἴασεν | eí-a-sen} ‘allowed’ governing the infinitive zen {ζῆν | zên} ‘to live’ in a construction that, negated by ouk {οὐκ | ouk}, yields the sense “did not allow to live.” In translation, the temporal and connective particles are rendered with natural narrative links (“when,” “but”), the imperfect dialogue verb is conveyed by a past description of their speaking together, and the personified hē dikē is capitalized as “Justice” to convey the islanders’ belief in an active force of retributive justice.

Root and etymology

ther🔊 θήρtheta–eta–rho

“wild animal, beast”

• 🔊 θηρίονtherionwild beastRevelation 13:1