| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the imperfect ethelen {ethelen | ē-the-len} ‘was unwilling’ negated by ouk {ouk | ouk}, with the prepositional phrase epi khronon {epi khronon | epì khró-non} ‘for a time’ marking sustained reluctance. The transition meta tauta de {meta tauta de | metà taû-ta dè} ‘after these things then’ leads to the aorist eipen {eipen | eî-pen} ‘he said’, framing an inner monologue introduced by the reflexive heautō {heautō | he-au-tō̂} ‘to himself’. The concessive ei kai {ei kai | eî kaì} ‘even if’ sets up two balanced clauses, ton theon ou phoboumai {ton theon ou phoboumai | tòn the-ón ou pho-boû-mai} ‘I do not fear God’ and oude anthropon entrepomai {oude anthropon entrepomai | ou-dé án-thrō-pon en-tré-po-mai} ‘nor do I respect man’, each combining a negative particle, accusative object, and first-person middle verb. This parallelism highlights his equal disregard for divine and human authority. The formal translation preserves this chiastic structure, and the dynamic translation conveys the dismissive tone in contemporary English. |