| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The clause begins with hotan {Ὅταν | hótan} ‘when’ and de {δὲ | dè} ‘but/and’, which together tie the saying to the surrounding discourse while opening a future temporal condition. The aorist subjunctive idete {ἴδητε | ídēte} keeps the seeing event within that future contingency: the hearers are to wait for a specific sign. The participle kykloumenen {κυκλουμένην | kyklouménēn} functions adjectivally and places Jerusalem in a vivid state of encirclement, while hypo {ὑπὸ | hypó} with stratopedon {στρατοπέδων | stratopedōn} identifies the hostile agents of the siege. Tote {τότε | tóte} marks the shift from condition to required response, and gnote {γνῶτε | gnôte} is an aorist imperative that calls for decisive interpretation rather than mere observation. The content clause introduced by hoti {ὅτι | hóti} explains what must be recognized: engiken {ἤγγικεν | ḗngiken}, a perfect form, presents desolation as already having entered the sphere of imminence. Hē eremosis autes {ἡ ἐρήμωσις αὐτῆς | hē erēmōsis autēs} binds the outcome to Jerusalem by the feminine pronoun, so the city and its fate are tightly linked in the warning. |