ἔρχομαι

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἔρχομαι

   ER-kho-mai

   I come
2. sentence🔊 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Κἂν ἐγὼ μαρτυρῶ περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ ἀληθής ἐστιν ἡ μαρτυρία μου ὅτι οἶδα πόθεν ἦλθον καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἔρχομαι ἢ ποῦ ὑπάγω

   a-pe-KRI-thê ee-ay-SOOS KAI EI-pen au-TOIS KAN e-GÔ mar-ty-RÔ pe-RI e-mau-TOU a-lê-THÊS ES-tin hê mar-ty-RI-a mou HO-ti OI-da PO-then ÊL-thon KAI POU hy-PA-gō hy-MEIS de ouk OI-da-te PO-then ER-kho-mai ê POU hy-PA-gō

   answered Jesus and said to them even if I bear witness about myself true is the testimony my because I know from where I came and where I am going you but not you know from where I come or where I am going

Exegesis

The contrastive clause hymeis de ouk oidate pothen erchomai e pou hypago {ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ οἴδατε πόθεν ἔρχομαι ἢ ποῦ ὑπάγω | hy-meîs dè ouk oí-da-te pó-then ér-kho-mai ē poû hy-pá-gō} ‘but you do not know where I come from or where I am going’ sets the audience’s ignorance against Jesus’ knowledge through the emphatic subject hymeis and the particle de. The repetition and pairing of pothen ‘from where’ and pou ‘where’ form a rhetorical parallelism that highlights the Christological theme of heavenly origin and return. English renderings mirror the concessive–declarative–causal–contrastive sequence, preserving the logical flow and the emphasis on epistemic contrast between Jesus and His hearers.