John 20:6 — ExegesisTAB

The verse opens with the clause erchetai oun kai Simōn Petros akolouthōn autō {ἔρχεται οὖν καὶ Σίμων Πέτρος ἀκολουθῶν αὐτῷ | ér-khe-tai oûn kaí Sí-mōn Pé-tros a-ko-lou-thôn au-tô}, where the narrative present erchetai {ἔρχεται | ér-khe-tai} “comes” continues the immediate flow of events, and the inferential conjunction oun {οὖν | oûn} links Peter’s arrival to the prior description of the other disciple. The participle akolouthōn {ἀκολουθῶν | a-ko-lou-thôn} “following” is nominative and agrees with Simōn Petros, functioning circumstantially to describe how Peter comes, marking his movement as closely connected and simultaneous with that of the other disciple. The next finite verb, eisēlthen {εἰσῆλθεν | ei-sêl-then} “entered,” advances the action as Peter moves from approach to entry, while the prepositional phrase eis to mnēmeion {εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον | eis tò mnē-meî-on} specifies the goal of his movement, the tomb itself. Repeated kai {καὶ | kaí} “and” coordinates each step in a paratactic chain, giving the narrative a deliberate, stepwise rhythm. The final clause, kai theōrei ta othonia keimena {καὶ θεωρεῖ τὰ ὀθόνια κείμενα | kaí the-ō-reî tà o-thó-ni-a keî-me-na}, combines the present theōrei {θεωρεῖ | the-ō-reî} “sees, observes” with the participle keimena {κείμενα | keî-me-na} “lying,” presenting Peter’s perception as vivid and ongoing while portraying the cloths as undisturbed and simply lying there. In translation, the narrative presents are rendered with simple past (“came,” “entered,” “saw” / “noticed”) for natural English storytelling, while the participles akolouthōn and keimena are expressed as circumstantial phrases (“following him,” “lying there”) to preserve their descriptive force and the scene-setting function of Peter’s careful observation.