ἢ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἢ

   ê

   or
2. sentence🔊 καὶ ἐλθόντες λέγουσιν αὐτῷ Διδάσκαλε οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀληθὴς εἶ καὶ οὐ μέλει σοι περὶ οὐδενός οὐ γὰρ βλέπεις εἰς πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπων ἀλλʼ ἐπʼ ἀληθείας τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ θεοῦ διδάσκεις ἔξεστιν δοῦναι κῆνσον Καίσαρι ἢ οὔ δῶμεν ἢ μὴ δῶμεν

   KAI el-THON-tes LE-goo-sin au-TOI di-DAS-ka-le OI-da-men HO-ti a-lê-THÊS EI KAI OU ME-lei soi pe-RI ou-de-NOS OU GAR BLE-peis EIS PRO-sô-pon an-THRÔ-pôn al ep a-lê-THEI-as tên ho-DON tou the-OU di-DAS-keis EX-es-tin DOU-nai KÊN-son KAI-sa-ri ê OU DÔ-men ê mê DÔ-men

   and having come they say to him Teacher we know that true you are and not it matters to you about anyone not for you look to face of people but upon of truth the way of the God you teach it is lawful to give tax to Caesar or not should we give or not should we give

Exegesis

ē mē dōmen {δῶμεν … ἢ μὴ δῶμεν | dômen … ē mḗ dômen} ‘should we give … or should we not give’, creating rhetorical symmetry. In translation, this structure is preserved by maintaining the initial temporal clause, the reported speech with its character description, and the parallelism of the final either–or question to reflect the testing nature of their inquiry.

Root and etymology

Root🔊 ἀλήθ-alpha–lambda–eta–theta

“unconcealed, true”

• 🔊 ἀλήθειαalḗtheiatruth, realityJohn 8:32
• 🔊 ἀληθινόςalēthinóstrue, genuineJohn 4:23