| 34. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the temporal dative phrase te enate hora {τῇ ἐνάτῃ ὥρᾳ | tē ená-tē hō-rā} ‘at the ninth hour’, where the article plus ordinal adjective and noun in the dative case function as a dative of time, pinpointing when the event occurs. The main clause centers on the verb eboesen {ἐβόησεν | ebó-ē-sen} ‘cried out’, which takes ho Iesous {ὁ Ἰησοῦς | ho Iē-soûs} as its explicit subject, forming a straightforward narrative statement. The instrumental dative phone megale {φωνῇ μεγάλῃ | phō-nē me-gá-lē} ‘with a great voice’ expresses the manner of the cry, a Semitic-style idiom meaning a very loud, forceful shout. Direct speech then follows: the Aramaic address and question “Eloi eloi lema sabachthani,” preserving Jesus’ original words as a vocative plea and interrogative lament. The neuter relative clause ho estin methermeneuomenon {ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον | ho es-tin me-ther-mē-neu-ó-me-non} ‘which is being translated’ introduces an explanatory gloss for Greek-speaking readers, with the neuter relative referring to the entire Aramaic utterance. The content of this gloss is a vocative clause, Ho theos mou ho theos mou {Ὁ θεός μου ὁ θεός μου | Ho the-ós mou ho the-ós mou} ‘My God, My God’, followed by the interrogative phrase eis ti engkatelipes me {εἰς τί ἐγκατέλιπές με | eis tí eng-ka-té-li-pes me} ‘for what (reason) did You forsake Me?’, where eis ti functions idiomatically as “why,” and the aorist engkatelipes portrays a decisive act of abandonment. The overall structure closely mirrors the opening line of Psalm 22:1, casting Jesus’ cry as a scriptural lament that combines intense anguish with direct address to God. |