John 6:24 — ExegesisTAB

The verse begins with the temporal conjunction hote {ὅτε | hó-te} followed by the inferential particle oun {οὖν | oun}, signaling a time reference that is also a logical consequence of the preceding narrative (the feeding and Jesus’ withdrawal). The finite verb eiden {εἶδεν | eî-den} “he saw” is formally third person singular, but with the explicit subject ho ochlos {ὁ ὄχλος | ho ókh-los} “the crowd” it functions as a collective subject, so the sense is “the crowd saw.” The content of what they perceive is expressed in the hoti-clause hoti Iesous ouk estin ekei {ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ | hó-ti Ie-soûs ouk é-stin e-keî}, an object clause reporting that “Jesus is not there,” with ouk negating the copula estin and ekei specifying location. The coordinating negative conjunction oude {οὐδὲ | ou-dé} extends the negation to a second coordinated subject phrase, hoi mathetai autou {οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ | hoi ma-thē-taí au-toû}, “nor His disciples,” with autou marking possession by Jesus. The narrative then shifts to third person plural verbs, enebesan {ἐνέβησαν | e-né-bē-san} “they entered” and elthon {ἦλθον | êl-thon} “they went,” depicting two sequential aorist actions that summarize the crowd’s decisive response. The intensive pronoun autoi {αὐτοὶ | au-toí} immediately after enebesan emphasizes that the crowd themselves undertake the initiative of embarking, without assistance. The prepositional phrase eis ta ploiaria {εἰς τὰ πλοιάρια | eis ta plo-í-a-ria} specifies the goal of the first motion (“into the small boats”), while eis Kapharnaoum {εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ | eis Ka-phar-naoúm} marks the destination of their onward travel. Finally, the nominative plural participle zetountes {ζητοῦντες | zē-toûn-tes} is circumstantial, contemporaneous with elthon, describing the manner or purpose of their going: they went to Capernaum “seeking Jesus.” The English renderings preserve the temporal-subordinate structure (“When … saw that …”) and coordinate the two aorist verbs as simple past narrative events, while representing the participle with a finite verb plus participial phrase (“seeking/searching”) to keep the sense of ongoing intent.