| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the aorist active imperative aphete {ἄφετε | á-phe-te} 'leave alone', directing the audience to disengage from the group referred to by autous {αὐτούς | au-toús} 'them'. The statement typhloi eisin hodegoi typhlon {τυφλοί εἰσιν ὁδηγοὶ τυφλῶν | ty-phloí eî-sin ho-dē-goí ty-phlôn} forms a copular clause in which typhloi 'blind ones' functions as the predicate nominative and hodegoi 'guides', modified by the genitive typhlon 'of the blind', underscores the irony of impaired leadership. The adversative conjunction de {δέ | dé} 'but' introduces the general condition expressed by ean {ἐὰν | e-án} 'if' plus the present subjunctive hodege {ὁδηγῇ | ho-dē-gē̂} 'leads' in the conditional clause typhlos de typhlon ean hodege {τυφλὸς δὲ τυφλὸν ἐὰν ὁδηγῇ | ty-phlós de ty-phlón e-án ho-dē-gē̂}. The apodosis amphoteroi eis bothynon pesountai {ἀμφότεροι εἰς βόθυνον πεσοῦνται | am-phó-te-roi eis bó-thy-non pe-soûn-tai} 'both will fall into a pit' places the emphatic pronoun amphoteroi 'both' first and concludes with the future middle indicative verb pesountai 'will fall' to emphasize the inevitable result. |