Luke 13:34ExegesisTAB

Luke 13 : 34 Lament | Protection | Unwillingness
34. Linguistic Exegesis
The double vocative ierousalem ierousalem {Ἰερουσαλήμ Ἰερουσαλήμ | Ierousalḗm Ierousalḗm} heightens emotional intensity. The participles apokteinousa {ἀποκτείνουσα | apokteínousa} ‘slaying’ and lithoboloousa {λιθοβολοῦσα | lithoboloûsa} ‘stoning’ form an attributive construction modifying Jerusalem, each governing its accusative object, prophētas {προφήτας | prophḗtas} and apestalmenous {ἀπεσταλμένους | apestalménous}, with pros autēn {πρὸς αὐτήν | pròs autḗn} indicating the recipients. The adverb posákis {ποσάκις | posákis} ‘how often’ introduces the lament, followed by the aorist ēthélēsa {ἠθέλησα | ēthélēsa} ‘I yearned’ and the infinitive episunáxai {ἐπισυνάξαι | episunáxai} ‘to assemble’, taking ta tékna sou {τὰ τέκνα σου | tà tékna sou} as object. The relative pronoun hon {ὃν | hòn} ‘which’ and noun trópon {τρόπον | trópon} ‘manner’ introduce a simile: ornis {ὄρνις | órnis} ‘hen’ gathers her brood under her wings (tēn heautēs nossiàn hypó tas ptérygas {τὴν ἑαυτῆς νοσσιὰν ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας | tḕn heautês nossiàn hypò tàs ptérygas}). The conjunction kai {καὶ | kaí} plus the negative ouk ēthelḗsate {οὐκ ἠθελήσατε | oûk ēthelḗsate} ‘but you refused’ contrasts Jesus’s persistent longing with Jerusalem’s unwillingness. The dynamic translation renders the participles into relative clauses for clarity and preserves the maternal image to evoke protective sorrow.

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