| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with kai metemorphothe {καὶ μετεμορφώθη | kaí metemorphṓthē} ‘and he was transformed’, where the conjunction kai connects this miraculous event to the preceding narrative and the aorist passive verb portrays it as a completed divine action upon Him. The prepositional phrase emprosthen autōn {ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν | émprosthen autôn} ‘before them’ emphasizes the public nature of the transfiguration by placing the witnesses directly in view. A second kai introduces elampsen {καὶ ἔλαμψεν | kaí élampsen} ‘shone’, again in the aorist, which takes to prosōpon autou {τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ | tó prósōpon autoû} ‘His face’ as its nominative subject, with the simile hōs ho hēlios {ὡς ὁ ἥλιος | hōs ho hḗlios} ‘like the sun’ intensifying the visual brilliance through natural comparison. The particle de in ta de himatia autou {τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ | tá dé himátia autoû} ‘but His garments’ signals a slight shift of focus to His clothing, followed by the middle aorist egeneto leuka {ἐγένετο λευκὰ | egéneto leuká} ‘became white’ and the comparative simile hōs to phōs {ὡς τὸ φῶς | hōs tó phōs} ‘like the light’, which parallels the earlier imagery to underscore the totality of His radiant transformation. The three coordinated clauses linked by “and” (and “but” for de) preserve the narrative flow and highlight the unfolding visual revelation. |