| 35. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the coordinating conjunction kai {καί | kaí} linking this action to the preceding narrative. The aorist participle parangeilas {παραγγείλας | pa-rang-geí-las} precedes the implied finite verb “He commanded,” functioning temporally, so a translation such as “after He commanded” reflects the participial nuance as antecedent to the main action of feeding. The dative phrase tō ochlō {τῷ ὄχλῳ | tôi óch-lōi} marks the indirect object, identifying the crowd as the recipients of the instruction. The infinitive anapesein {ἀναπεσεῖν | a-na-pe-seîn} serves as a complementary infinitive expressing the content of the command (“to recline”), an idiom for assuming a position for eating in banquet settings. The prepositional phrase epi tēn gēn {ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν | e-pì tḕn gḗn} with epi plus accusative specifies location and direction, portraying the crowd settling directly on the ground. In English, the temporal participle is rendered as a finite verb with a temporal clause in the formal reconstruction and as a simple past directive (“told”) in the dynamic reconstruction, while the idiomatic “recline” is retained formally but expressed as “sit down” dynamically to convey the same seated posture for eating. |