| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the fronted predicate adjective aposynagogous {ἀποσυναγώγους | aposunagṓgous} ‘outcasts from the synagogue,’ followed by the verb poiēsousin {ποιήσουσιν | poiḗsousin} ‘they will make’ and its object hymas {ὑμᾶς | hymâs} ‘you.’ The adversative conjunction all' {ἀλλʼ | all'} introduces contrast with erchetai hōra {ἔρχεται ὥρα | érchetai hṓra} ‘an hour is coming,’ a common eschatological marker. The subordinating conjunction hina {ἵνα | hína} governs a result clause pas ho apokteinas hymas doxē latreian prospherein tō theō {πᾶς ὁ ἀποκτείνας ὑμᾶς δόξῃ λατρείαν προσφέρειν τῷ θεῷ | pâs ho apokteínas hymâs dóxē latreían prosphérein tō theō}, where the articular participle construction pas ho apokteinas indicates ‘everyone who kills you’ in a general sense. The aorist subjunctive doxē expresses the persecutors’ certainty that they are performing latreian prospherein ‘offering worship,’ with latreian {λατρεία | latreían} ‘service, worship’ and prospherein {προσφέρειν | prosphérein} ‘to offer’ evoking cultic ritual. The single preposition tō governs the dative theō, linking both worship and perception to God. |