οὐ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 οὐ

   ou

   not
2. sentence🔊 καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ Βλέπεις ταύτας τὰς μεγάλας οἰκοδομάς οὐ μὴ ἀφεθῇ ὧδε λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον ὃς οὐ μὴ καταλυθῇ

   KAI ho ee-ay-SOOS EI-pen au-TOI BLE-peis TAU-tas tas me-GA-las oi-ko-do-MAS ou mê a-phe-THÊ HÔ-de LI-thos e-PI LI-thon hos ou mê ka-ta-ly-THÊ

   and the Jesus said to him Do you see these the great buildings not certainly not will be left here stone upon stone which not certainly not will be thrown down

Exegesis

The predictive declaration uses a negated verb of remaining, ou me aphethe {οὐ μὴ ἀφεθῇ | ou mē a-phe-thêi}, followed by the adverb hode {ὧδε | hô-de} ‘here’ and the idiomatic expression lithos epi lithon {λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον | lí-thos e-pì lí-thon} ‘stone upon stone,’ which functions as a Semitic-style hyperbole for total destruction.

The relative clause hos ou me kataluthe {ὃς οὐ μὴ καταλυθῇ | hos ou mē ka-ta-lu-thêi} further specifies the fate of each “stone,” repeating the ou me construction with the aorist passive subjunctive to express emphatic, future-certain negation. The Greek syntax moves from a direct question to a solemn prophetic prediction, and in translation the emphatic double negation is rendered with strong future statements (“not one stone … every one will be torn down”) while preserving the vivid “stone upon another” imagery.

Root and etymology

Iesous🔊 Ἰησοῦςiota–eta–sigma–omicron–upsilon–sigma

“Yahweh is salvation”

• 🔊 ἸησοῦςIesousJesus, SaviorMatthew 1:21
• 🔊 ἸησοῦςIesousJoshuaHebrews 4:8