⸀Ὅτι

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ⸀Ὅτι

   HO-ti

   because
2. clause🔊 ⸀Ὅτι ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πατέρα;

   HO-ti hy-PA-gô pros ton pa-TE-ra

   because I go to the Father
3. sentence🔊 εἶπαν οὖν ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἀλλήλους· Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο ὃ λέγει ἡμῖν· Μικρὸν καὶ οὐ θεωρεῖτέ με, καὶ πάλιν μικρὸν καὶ ὄψεσθέ με· καί· ⸀Ὅτι ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πατέρα;

   EI-pan OUN ek TÔN ma-thê-TÔN au-TOU pros al-LÊ-lous TI es-TIN TOU-to ho LE-yei hê-MIN mi-KRON KAI OU the-ô-rei-TE me KAI PA-lin mi-KRON KAI OP-seS-thê me KAI HO-ti hy-PA-gô pros ton pa-TE-ra

   therefore from the his disciples they said to one another what is this which he says to us a little while and not you see me and again a little while and you will see me and because I go to the Father

Exegesis

The central question Ti estin touto {τί ἐστιν τοῦτο | tí estin toû-to} pushes the demonstrative touto {τοῦτο | toû-to} forward so that “this” refers to the saying that follows, while the relative clause ho legei hēmin {ὃ λέγει ἡμῖν | ho lé-gei hē-mîn} identifies the content of their confusion as Jesus’s own words “to us.” The quoted material is arranged in a strong rhythmic parallelism: mikron ... kai ... mikron ... kai ... , with the repeated temporal phrase creating a compact “little while” pattern that intensifies the sense of delay.

The final kai hoti hypagō pros ton patera {καί Ὅτι ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πατέρα | kaí Hó-ti hy-pá-gō pros ton pa-té-ra} is best taken as continuing the quoted content: the hoti clause explains why the temporary absence matters, and pros ton patera specifies the Father as the destination of Jesus’s movement. The repeated kai produces a piling-up effect that mirrors the disciples’ puzzled attempt to hold the fragments of Jesus’s statement together.