| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with kai {καί | kaí} linking this response to the preceding mountain revelation. The aorist participle akousantes {ἀκούσαντες | a-koú-san-tes} serves as a temporal circumstantial participle, “when they heard,” indicating that the divine communication immediately triggers a physical reaction. The nominative hoi mathetai {οἱ μαθηταί | hoí ma-thē-taí} identifies the disciples as the subject of both ensuing actions. The aorist indicative epesan {ἔπεσαν | é-pe-san} combined with the prepositional phrase epi prosopon auton {ἐπί πρόσωπον αὐτῶν | e-pí pró-sō-pon au-tō̂n} conveys a singular act of prostration onto their own faces. The coordinated clause kai ephobethesan sphodra {καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν σφόδρα | kaí e-pho-bḗ-thē-san sphódra} uses a passive form with an inchoative sense and an intensifying adverb to express the disciples’ abrupt onset of intense fear. In English, the participial construction is rendered as a temporal clause in the formal and maintained as a participial clause in the dynamic, while the vivid posture and fear intensity are preserved to reflect both physical and emotional dimensions of their reaction. |