| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with οἱ δὲ συνελογίσαντο πρὸς ἑαυτούς {οἱ δὲ συνελογίσαντο πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς | hoi dè su-ne-lo-gí-san-to pròs he-au-toús}, where the article οἱ functions as a substantivizer for an implied “they,” and the aorist middle verb συνελογίσαντο indicates internal, mutual deliberation, strengthened by the reflexive prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτούς “toward themselves, with one another.” The participle λέγοντες {λέγοντες | lég-ontes} introduces the content of their reasoning, followed by ὅτι {ὅτι | hó-ti}, marking a content clause that consists of a conditional sentence and its projected consequence. The protasis uses ἐὰν {ἐὰν | è-an} with the aorist subjunctive εἴπωμεν {εἴπωμεν | éi-pō-men} to form a third-class condition, expressing a real but undecided possibility: “if we should say.” The phrase Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ {Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ | Ex ou-ra-noû}, with ἐξ governing the genitive, concisely states the proposed origin “from heaven.” The apodosis ἐρεῖ {ἐρεῖ | e-reî} projects Jesus’ anticipated response in the future, creating a logical consequence of their hypothetical answer. The direct question Διὰ τί οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ {Διὰ τί οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ | Dià tí ouk e-pi-steú-sa-te au-tô} is formed by the preposition διὰ with the interrogative τί functioning idiomatically as “why,” followed by the aorist indicative ἐπιστεύσατε and the dative αὐτῷ as the indirect object “him.” Syntactically, the verse presents layered speech: narrator description, then the leaders’ inner speech, then Jesus’ anticipated question, all of which is rendered by preserving the conditional structure, maintaining future reference in “He will say,” and capturing the rhetorical force of the reproachful “Why did you not believe him?” |