| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The temporal marker tote {τότε | tóte} connects this saying to the surrounding discourse and marks a shift in the narrative scene. The imperfect elegen {ἔλεγεν | élegen} presents the speech as ongoing or repeated, so the warning feels like a sustained utterance rather than a one-time statement. The future passive egerthesetai {Ἐγερθήσεται | egerthḗsetai} projects the conflict into the future and portrays it as something that will come upon the world. The sentence is built as a tightly balanced parallel: ethnos … ep’ ethnos … kai basileia epi basileian {ἔθνος ἐπʼ ἔθνος … καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν | éthnos epí éthnos … kaí basileía epí basileían}, with repeated noun-preposition-noun structure intensifying the scope of unrest. The preposition epi {ἐπὶ | epí} with the accusative carries a hostile sense here, naturally rendered “against.” The repetition of nation and kingdom creates rhetorical symmetry and broadens the warning from social conflict to political upheaval. |