Luke 19:17 — ExegesisTAB

The coordinating conjunction kai {καὶ | kaí} ties this commendation to the preceding narrative, and the verb eipen {εἶπεν | eî-pen} introduces direct speech addressed to the dative auto {αὐτῷ | au-tôi}. The emphatic interjection euge {Εὖγε | eu-ge} stands first within the utterance, followed by the vocative phrase agathe doule {ἀγαθὲ δοῦλε | a-ga-thé doû-le}, “good servant,” foregrounding praise of the servant’s character. The causal conjunction hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} introduces the reason for the commendation: the prepositional phrase en elachistō {ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ | e-la-khís-tō} indicates that the proven reliability concerned a very small or minimal responsibility, while the predicate adjective pistos {πιστὸς | pis-tós} describes the servant as faithful with respect to that trust. The verb sequence places the aorist middle indicative egenou {ἐγένου | e-gé-nou} “you became” or “you have been” before the present imperative isthi {ἴσθι | ís-thi} “be,” so that established faithfulness in the past grounds the imperative commissioning in the present. The construction isthi exousian echōn {ἴσθι ἐξουσίαν ἔχων | ís-thi ex-ou-sí-an é-khōn} combines an imperative of “to be” with a participle of “to have,” yielding the sense “be (as one) having authority,” which is rendered idiomatically as “have authority” or “be in charge.” The improper preposition epanō {ἐπάνω | e-pá-nō} with the genitive poleon {πόλεων | pó-le-ōn} specifies the sphere of this delegated rule, “over ten cities,” highlighting the disproportionate increase from a very small trust to a vast administrative responsibility.