| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence begins with kai {καί | kaí} linking this prediction to the preceding warnings about persecution. The demonstrative object tauta {ταῦτα | taûta} refers anaphorically to the hostile actions just described. Poiēsousin {ποιήσουσιν | poiḗsousin} is a future active indicative verb, with an implied third person plural subject (“they”), projecting the persecutors’ actions into the future. The causal conjunction hoti {ὅτι | hóti} introduces the reason clause, marking a clear cause–effect relationship between ignorance and persecution. Within this clause, the negative particle ouk {οὐκ | ouk} directly precedes the aorist verb egnōsan {ἔγνωσαν | égnōsan}, which views the failure “to know” as a decisive, completed reality rather than a mere momentary lapse. The coordinated objects ton patera {τόν πατέρα | tón patéra} and oude eme {οὐδέ ἐμέ | oudé emé} bind together ignorance of the Father and of the Son as a single explanatory cause for opposition to the disciples. Syntactically, the order places the Father first, underscoring the theological gravity of rejecting God as Father, while the addition of eme heightens the Christological dimension by making rejection of Jesus inseparable from rejection of the Father. In translation, this causal structure is preserved with “because,” while aspect is conveyed by “have not known” in a more formally oriented rendering and “do not know” in a dynamic rendering to express the continuing state of ignorance that underlies persecuting behavior. |