| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with kai {καί | kaí} ‘and’, which continues the narrative flow from the previous sentence. The verb elegon {ἔλεγον | élegon} is in the imperfect, indicating an ongoing or repeated action, suggesting that the women were in the midst of a continuing conversation as they walked. The prepositional phrase pros heautas {πρός ἑαυτάς | prós heautás} literally means ‘to themselves’ and idiomatically signals mutual dialogue among them, rendered as “to one another” or “to each other.” The interrogative tis {Τίς | Tís} introduces a direct question, functioning as the subject of the future verb apokylisei {ἀποκυλίσει | apokylísei} ‘will roll away,’ which carries a nuance of rolling something completely aside. The dative hemin {ἡμῖν | hēmîn} ‘for us’ emphasizes their inability to solve the problem on their own. The object phrase ton lithon {τὸν λίθον | tón líthon} specifies a particular stone previously known in the narrative context. The prepositional phrase ek tēs thyras tou mnēmeiou {ἐκ τῆς θύρας τοῦ μνημείου | ek tês thýras tou mnēmeíou} forms a genitive chain where thyras is governed by ek ‘from’ and mnēmeiou depends on thyras, yielding ‘from the door of the tomb.’ In translation, this structure is preserved by keeping the prepositional phrase intact while adjusting word order slightly for natural English, maintaining the embedded direct question exactly as the Greek frames it. |