| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with kai {καὶ | kaì} ‘and’ as a narrative connector, linking this petition to the previous description of the lepers’ condition. Autoi {αὐτοὶ | au-toì} ‘they’ functions as the explicit subject of the aorist verb eran {ἦραν | ê-ran} ‘lifted up,’ portraying a decisive, collective action. The object phonen {φωνὴν | phō-nḕn} ‘voice’ in the singular is a distributive collective, representing the many voices as one unified cry. The nominative participle legontes {λέγοντες | lé-gon-tes} ‘saying’ is circumstantial, introducing the content of their plea through direct discourse. Within the quotation, two vocatives, iesou {Ἰησοῦ | Iē-soû} ‘Jesus’ and epistata {ἐπιστάτα | e-pi-stá-ta} ‘Master,’ are placed side by side, intensifying the address and acknowledging both personal identity and authoritative status. The aorist imperative eleeson {ἐλέησον | e-lé-ē-son} ‘have mercy’ governs the accusative hemas {ἡμᾶς | hē-mâs} ‘us,’ forming a concise petition that centers on receiving compassionate intervention. The formal translation preserves the connective “and,” the imagery of lifting up the voice, and the paired vocatives, while the dynamic rendering recasts the idiom “lifted up their voice” as “called out loudly” to convey the force of the plea in contemporary language, all while maintaining the imperative request directed to Jesus as authoritative Master. |