| 24. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is arranged as three paratactic announcements linked by kai {καὶ | kaí} ‘and,’ which gives the scene a cumulative, step-by-step force. The opening clause, pesountai stomati machairēs {πεσοῦνται στόματι μαχαίρης | pe-soûn-tai stó-ma-ti ma-khái-rēs} ‘they will fall by the sword,’ uses a future form to project the judgment as certain, while στόματι μαχαίρης is an idiom whose literal wording points to the blade’s edge rather than a mouth in English. The next clause, aichmalotisthēsontai eis ta ethnē panta {αἰχμαλωτισθήσονται εἰς τὰ ἔθνη πάντα | aikh-ma-lo-tis-thḗ-son-tai eis tá éth-nē pán-ta} ‘they will be taken captive into all the nations,’ combines a passive future with eis + accusative to stress forced movement and dispersion outward from the city. The focus then shifts from the people to the city itself: Ierousalēm estai patoumenē hypo ethnōn {Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἔσται πατουμένη ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν | Ie-rou-sa-lḗm é-stai pa-tou-mé-nē hy-pó eth-nôn} ‘Jerusalem will be trampled by nations,’ where estai plus the present passive participle creates a periphrastic future that highlights an ongoing condition of humiliation. The limit of that condition is introduced by achri hou {ἄχρι οὗ | ákh-ri hou} ‘until the point when,’ leading into plērōthōsin kairoi ethnōn {πληρωθῶσιν καιροὶ ἐθνῶν | plē-rō-thô-sin kai-roí eth-nôn} ‘the times of the nations are fulfilled.’ The passive subjunctive presents the fulfillment as an event that will come to pass under divine ordering, and the plural kairoi suggests appointed periods rather than a single moment. |