| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence begins with the imperative mnēmoneuete {μνημονεύετε | mnē-mo-neú-e-te} ‘keep remembering,’ which governs the whole saying and frames the command as an active holding of the speaker’s earlier words. The genitive phrase tou logou hou egō eipon hymin {τοῦ λόγου οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν | toû ló-gou hoû egṓ eî-pon hy-mîn} binds the remembered content tightly to that prior utterance through a relative clause, making the saying itself the object of recollection. The aphoristic line Ouk estin doulos meizōn tou kyriou autou {Οὐκ ἔστιν δοῦλος μείζων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ | Ouk é-stin doû-los meí-zōn toû ky-rí-ou au-toû} states a timeless hierarchy in present tense, functioning as a proverb that explains why the disciples should expect the same treatment. The two ei-clauses form a balanced parallelism: ei eme edioxan kai hymas dioxousin {εἰ ἐμὲ ἐδίωξαν καὶ ὑμᾶς διώξουσιν | ei e-mé e-di-óx-an kai hy-más di-óx-ou-sin} and ei ton logon mou eteresan kai ton hymeteron teresousin {εἰ τὸν λόγον μου ἐτήρησαν καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον τηρήσουσιν | ei ton ló-gon mou e-tē-re-san kai ton hy-mé-te-ron tē-rē-sou-sin}. In both, the aorist verbs describe the response already given, while the future verbs project that same pattern onto the disciples, turning the saying into a direct analogy between the speaker and his followers. The fronting of eme and hymas sharpens the contrast, and the repeated conditional structure gives the verse a measured, predictive force. In English, the saying is rendered with a proverb-like line and two matched conditionals so the logical symmetry remains clear. |