| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the narrative verb eipon {εἶπον | eî-pon} ‘they said’, followed by the inferential particle oun {οὖν | oûn} ‘therefore/so’, which connects this accusation to Jesus’ prior statement about Himself. The indirect object autō {αὐτῷ | au-tô} ‘to Him’ precedes the explicit subject hoi Pharisaiōi {οἱ Φαρισαῖοι | hoi Phar-i-saî-oi} ‘the Pharisees’, a common Greek ordering that foregrounds the recipient of speech before naming the speakers. Direct discourse is introduced immediately with the emphatic subject pronoun Sy {Σὺ | Sý} ‘You’, placing strong emphasis on Jesus as the one under scrutiny. The clause peri seautou martureis {περὶ σεαυτοῦ μαρτυρεῖς | per-í se-au-toû mar-tu-reîs} literally reads ‘about Yourself You testify’, with peri marking the object of Jesus’ testimony and the reflexive seautou underscoring its self-referential nature. The second clause, hē marturia sou ouk estin alēthēs {ἡ μαρτυρία σου οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθής | hē mar-tu-rí-a sou ouk é-stin a-lē-thḗs}, preserves a straightforward nominal structure: subject ‘Your testimony’, copula ‘is’, and predicate adjective ‘not true’. The coordination of these two clauses by simple juxtaposition, rather than a conjunction, heightens the accusatory tone. In the formal translation, the Greek order and legal flavor of martureis and marturia are maintained with “testifying” and “testimony,” while in the dynamic rendering the same forensic idea is conveyed with “speaking on Your own behalf” and “cannot be trusted,” making explicit the implied challenge to the validity of a self-witness. |