| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with kai legei {Καὶ λέγει | kaí légei} ‘and he says’, a historical present frequently used by Mark for vivid narration, followed by the dative autois {αὐτοῖς | autoîs} indicating the disciples as recipients of speech. The explicit subject ho Iesous {ὁ Ἰησοῦς | ho Iēsoûs} is then named for clarity. The first hoti {ὅτι | hóti} introduces the content of Jesus’ prediction as an object clause: Pantes skandalisthesesthe {Πάντες σκανδαλισθήσεσθε | Pántes skandalisthḗsesthe}, where Pantes ‘all’ is fronted for emphasis, and the future passive verb highlights that their stumbling is something that will happen to them rather than a purely deliberate choice. The second hoti {ὅτι | hóti} introduces the causal ground for this prediction: gegraptai {γέγραπται | gégraptai} ‘it has been written’, a formula for authoritative Scripture citation. The quotation itself contains Pataxo ton poimena {Πατάξω τὸν ποιμένα | Patáxō ton poiména}, with a first person future active verb indicating divine action against ‘the shepherd’, followed by kai ta probata diaskorpisthesontai {καὶ τὰ πρόβατα διασκορπισθήσονται | kaí tá próbata diaskorpisthḗsontai}, a coordinated clause describing the inevitable scattering of ‘the sheep’. The shepherd–sheep metaphor aligns with leader–followers imagery, implicitly connecting Jesus and His disciples to the prophetic text. In translation, the two hoti clauses are rendered as “that” and “because” to distinguish content from cause, while preserving the passive nuance of skandalisthesesthe in “will be caused to stumble” (formal) and reflecting idiomatic English in “will fall away” (dynamic), both tied to the same underlying Greek structure. |