αὐτὸν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 αὐτὸν

   au-TON

   him
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 καὶ θέλων αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι ἐφοβήθη τὸν ὄχλον,

   KAI THE-lôn au-TON a-pok-TEI-nai e-pho-BÊ-thê TON O-khlon

   And wanting to kill him he feared the crowd
3. sentence🔊 καὶ θέλων αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι ἐφοβήθη τὸν ὄχλον, ὅτι ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.

   KAI THE-lôn au-TON a-pok-TEI-nai e-pho-BÊ-thê TON O-khlon HO-ti hôs pro-PHÊ-tên au-TON EI-khon

   And wanting to kill him he feared the crowd because they held him as a prophet

Exegesis

The verse begins with the circumstantial participle thelōn {θέλων | thé-lōn} “wanting,” which, together with the complementary infinitive apokteinai {ἀποκτεῖναι | apok-teî-nai} “to kill,” expresses Herod’s settled intent toward the man referred to by auton {αὐτόν | autón}. This participial clause precedes the main finite verb and is rendered with a concessive nuance in English (“although he wanted to kill him”) to reflect the tension between desire and outcome.

The causal conjunction hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} introduces the reason for his fear: the following clause hōs prophētēn auton eichon {ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον}.

The placement of auton {αὐτόν | autón} before eichon highlights the person’s identity as the object of the crowd’s ongoing estimation. The imperfect aspect of eichon conveys a sustained public opinion, not a momentary thought, which is captured in English by “regarded” or “thought.” The syntactic structure thus portrays a contrast between Herod’s internal resolve and his external restraint due to the stabilizing influence of the crowd’s perception that this man was “as a prophet.”