εἰ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 εἰ

   ei

   if
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν κεντυρίωνα ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτὸν εἰ ⸀πάλαι ἀπέθανεν·

   kai pros-ka-le-SA-me-nos ton ken-ty-RI-o-na e-pê-RÔ-tê-sen au-TON ei PA-lai a-PE-tha-nen

   and having summoned the centurion questioned him if long ago he died
3. sentence🔊 ὁ δὲ Πιλᾶτος ἐθαύμασεν εἰ ἤδη τέθνηκεν, καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τὸν κεντυρίωνα ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτὸν εἰ ⸀πάλαι ἀπέθανεν·

   ho de pi-LA-tos e-THAU-ma-sen ei Ê-dê TE-thnê-ken kai pros-ka-le-SA-me-nos ton ken-ty-RI-o-na e-pê-RÔ-tê-sen au-TON ei PA-lai a-PE-tha-nen

   the and Pilate marveled if already he has died and having summoned the centurion questioned him if long ago he died

Exegesis

The main verb of the first clause is ethaumasen {ἐθαύμασεν | e-thau-ma-sen} ‘he marveled, was amazed,’ and its content is expressed by an indirect question introduced by ei {εἰ | ei}, followed by the adverb ede {ἤδη | ē-dē} ‘already’ and the perfect verb tethneken {τέθνηκεν | teth-ne-ken} ‘has died, is dead.’ The perfect aspect presents Jesus’ death as a completed event whose resulting state is now in force, which explains Pilate’s surprise that the state of death is already present.

The main verb eperotesen {ἐπηρώτησεν | e-pe-RO-te-sen} ‘he asked, questioned’ takes auton {αὐτὸν | au-ton} ‘him’ as its object and again introduces, with ei {εἰ | ei}, an indirect question: palai {πάλαι | PA-lai} ‘long ago, for some time’ modifies the aorist verb apethanen {ἀπέθανεν | a-PE-tha-nen} ‘he died.’ The shift from perfect tethneken in the first clause to aorist apethanen in the second highlights two different perspectives: the present state of being dead versus the earlier moment of dying and the duration since that moment. Translationally, this motivates rendering the first as ‘was already dead’ and the second with an English past perfect idea (‘had died’ / ‘had been dead for some time’) to show anterior time relative to Pilate’s questioning. The overall syntactic flow underscores Pilate’s need for official, temporal confirmation of Jesus’ death through the centurion’s testimony before he can proceed with subsequent actions.

Root and etymology

thaumazō🔊 θαυμάζωtheta–alpha–upsilon–mu–alpha–zeta–omega

“to wonder, be astonished”

• 🔊 θαῦμαthaumawonder, marvelActs 3:10
• 🔊 θαυμαστόςthaumastoswonderful, remarkable1 Peter 2:9