| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the main clause doso soi tas kleidas tēs basileias tōn ouranōn {δώσω σοι τὰς κλεῖδας τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν | dṓ-sō soi tàs kleî-das tês ba-si-leí-as tôn ou-ra-nôn} ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens’, in which the future verb doso governs the dative pronoun soi {σοι | soi} ‘to you’, the accusative noun kleidas {κλεῖδας | kleî-das} ‘keys’, and the genitive-attributive phrase basileias tōn ouranōn {βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν | ba-si-leí-as tôn ou-ra-nôn} ‘of the kingdom of the heavens’, defining the sphere of authority. Two parallel indefinite relative clauses follow: kaí hò eàn dḗ-sēs {καὶ ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς | kaí hò eàn dḗ-sēs} ‘and whatever you bind’ and kaí hò eàn lý-sēs {καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς | kaí hò eàn lý-sēs} ‘and whatever you loose’, each combining the relative pronoun hò {ὃ | hò} ‘whatever’, the conditional particle eàn {ἐὰν | eàn} ‘if/whenever’, and an aorist subjunctive verb to express general authority. Each result clause employs the periphrastic future é-stai {ἔσται | é-stai} ‘it will be’ plus a perfect passive participle (de-de-mé-non {δεδεμένον} ‘having been bound’; le-lu-mé-non {λελυμένον} ‘having been loosed’) to indicate that earthly actions are regarded as already accomplished in the heavenly realm. The contrasting locative-prepositional phrases epì tēs gēs {ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς | epì tês gēs} ‘on the earth’ and en toîs ouranoîs {ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς | en toîs ou-ra-noîs} ‘in the heavens’ reinforce the symmetry between human decision and divine confirmation. |