| 29. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence begins with kai {Καὶ | Kaí} ‘and’, which links this saying to the preceding discourse and keeps the narrative flow continuous. The aorist verb eipen {εἶπεν | eî-pen} ‘he said’ introduces the direct speech, while parabolēn {παραβολὴν | para-bolḗn} ‘parable’ serves as its object and signals that what follows is an illustrative comparison rather than plain narration. The dative autois {αὐτοῖς | au-toîs} ‘to them’ identifies the audience. The imperative idete {Ἴδετε | Í-de-te} ‘look’ shifts the focus from narration to attentive observation, and it governs the coordinated accusatives tēn sykēn {τὴν συκῆν | tḕn sy-kên} ‘the fig tree’ and panta ta dendra {πάντα τὰ δένδρα | pán-ta tà dén-dra} ‘all the trees’. The movement from a single fig tree to all trees creates a representative contrast that prepares the listener for the interpretive point in the next verse. In English, a colon and quotation marks mark the transition into the quoted instruction. |