| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the adverb tote {τότε | tóte} ‘then’, marking a temporal link to the preceding narrative. The aorist active indicative verb synekan {συνῆκαν | synḗkan} ‘they understood’ presents a completed action of comprehension, and its placement before the nominative mathetai {μαθηταί | mathētai} ‘the disciples’ reflects the Greek narrative pattern of verb-initial emphasis on sudden insight. The conjunction hoti {ὅτι | hóti} introduces a subordinate content clause specifying what was understood. Within this clause, the prepositional phrase peri Ioannou tou baptistou {περὶ Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ | perí Iōánnou toû baptistoû} ‘about John the Baptist’ employs the genitive to denote the topic of Jesus’ earlier remarks, with the titular genitive tou baptistou in apposition to Ioannou. The verb eipen {εἶπεν | eîpen} ‘he said’ refers implicitly to Jesus, and the dative autois {αὐτοῖς | autoîs} marks the indirect object ‘to them’. The formal reconstruction uses “had been speaking” to reflect that Jesus’ speech preceded their understanding, while the dynamic uses “was speaking” for a more conversational tone. Both English renderings maintain the Greek emphasis on the disciples’ insight by opening with “Then the disciples…”. |