John 18:34 — ExegesisTAB

The sentence opens with the narrative aorist apekrithe {ἀπεκρίθη | a-pe-krí-thē} ‘answered’, a common Johannine way of moving the exchange forward before naming the speaker. Iesous {Ἰησοῦς | Iē-soûs} ‘Jesus’ follows immediately, so the reply is anchored to Him before the direct question begins. The preposed phrase Apo seautou {Ἀπὸ σεαυτοῦ | A-pò se-au-toû} ‘from yourself’ places the question of origin at the front of the clause, making source and initiative the main issue. The explicit sy {σὺ | sy} ‘you’ adds emphasis, and touto {τοῦτο | toû-to} ‘this’ points to the statement under review. The present tense of legeis {λέγεις | lé-geis} ‘you say’ presents the utterance as a live personal claim rather than a detached report. The disjunctive e {ἢ | ē} ‘or’ sets up a sharp alternative, while alloi {ἄλλοι | ál-loi} ‘others’ with eipon {εἶπόν | ei-pón} ‘said’ shifts the source from personal conviction to reported speech. The closing phrase peri emou {περὶ ἐμοῦ | pe-rì e-moû} ‘about Me’ leaves Jesus as the final focal point, which heightens the rhetorical force of the question. In English, the compact Greek is best rendered as a two-source question that preserves the contrast between an inwardly generated statement and one received from outside voices.