John 19:20 — ExegesisTAB

The verse begins with the demonstrative-object sequence touton ton titlon {τοῦτον τὸν τίτλον | toû-ton tòn tít-lon}, placing “this title” in the emphatic fronted position before the main verb. The inferential conjunction oun {οὖν | oun} links the statement to the preceding narrative about the wording of the inscription. The subject of the main clause is the substantival adjective polloi {πολλοὶ | pol-loí} “many,” further specified by the partitive genitive tōn Ioudaiōn {τῶν Ἰουδαίων | tôn I-ou-daí-ōn} “of the Jews,” and the verb anegnōsan {ἀνέγνωσαν | a-nég-nō-san} completes the clause “many of the Jews read.” A causal subclause introduced by hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} explains why many could read it: engys ēn ho topos tēs poleōs {ἐγγὺς ἦν ὁ τόπος τῆς πόλεως | eng-gýs ēn ho tó-pos tēs pó-le-ōs} uses the adverb engys “near” with the copula to describe the proximity of “the place of the city.” The relative adverb hopou {ὅπου | hó-pou} introduces a locative relative clause specifying that this is where estaurōthē ho Iēsous {ἐσταυρώθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς | es-tau-rō-thē ho Iē-soûs}, “Jesus was crucified,” with the passive verb highlighting what was done to Him. A coordinated clause follows with kai ēn gegrammenon {καὶ ἦν γεγραμμένον | kai ēn ge-gram-mé-non}, a periphrastic construction combining the imperfect of “to be” with a perfect passive participle, emphasizing the continuing state “and it stood written.” The three adverbs Hebraisti, Rhōmaisti, Hellēnisti {Ἑβραϊστί Ῥωμαϊστί Ἑλληνιστί | He-bra-is-tí Rhō-ma-is-tí Hel-lē-nis-tí} function as adverbial modifiers indicating the languages in which the inscription was presented. In translation, the causal relationship introduced by hoti is rendered with “because/since,” and the periphrastic “was having been written” is simplified to “was written,” while maintaining the focus on the multilingual, publicly accessible nature of the crucifixion notice.