ὃ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ὃ

   ho

   which
2. sentence🔊 οἱ οὖν ἄνθρωποι ἰδόντες ὃ ἐποίησεν σημεῖον ἔλεγον ὅτι Οὗτός ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ὁ προφήτης ὁ ἐρχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον

   hoi oun AN-thrô-poi i-DON-tes ho e-POI-ê-sen sê-MEI-on E-le-gon HO-ti hou-TOS ES-tin a-lê-THÔS ho pro-PHÊ-tês ho er-KHO-me-nos eis ton KOS-mon

   the therefore people having seen which he did sign they were saying that this one is truly the prophet the coming into the world

Exegesis

The object of their seeing is structured as a relative clause ho epoiēsen sēmeion {ὃ ἐποίησεν σημεῖον | ho e-poí-e-sen sē-mei-on} “the sign that he did,” where the relative pronoun ho precedes the verb for emphasis, highlighting what He did as the cause of their reaction. The imperfect elegon portrays their statement as repeated or ongoing, not a single remark.

The content of their speech is introduced by hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti}, followed by a copular clause: houtos estin alēthōs ho prophētēs {Οὗτός ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ὁ προφήτης | hoú-tos é-stin a-lē-thōs ho pro-phē-tēs}. The demonstrative houtos in the emphatic first position, together with the adverb alēthōs “truly,” underscores the certainty of their identification.

The articular participial phrase ho erchomenos eis ton kosmon {ὁ ἐρχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον | ho er-khó-me-nos eis ton kósm-on} functions substantivally, “the one coming into the world,” evoking a known eschatological figure, likely echoing the promised prophet like Moses. In translation, the participle idontes is rendered as a temporal clause (“having seen / when they saw”), and the articular participle ho erchomenos is expressed as “who is coming,” preserving its durative, expectant sense while keeping the focus on the recognized identity of Jesus implied by the context.

Root and etymology

sēma🔊 σῆμαsigma–eta–mu–alpha

“mark, sign”

• 🔊 σημεῖονsēmeionsignJohn 2:11
• 🔊 σημεῖαsēmeiasignsJohn 20:30