| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with a direct address, ti hymin dokei {τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ | tí hymîn dokeî} “what does it seem to you?”, engaging the audience in judgment. The protasis uses ean genetai {ἐὰν γένηταί | eàn génētai} with the aorist subjunctive to present a hypothetical. The dative possession, tini anthrōpō hekaton probata {τινι ἀνθρώπῳ ἑκατὸν πρόβατα | tini anthrōpō hekatón próbata}, naturally becomes “a man has one hundred sheep.” The contingency of loss is introduced by the aorist passive subjunctive planēthē {πλανηθῇ | planēthē̂} followed by hen ex autōn {ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν | hén ex autō̂n}, contrasting the single missing sheep with the flock. The apodosis begins with ouchi aphēsei {οὐχὶ ἀφήσει | ouchì aphḗsei}, combining the emphatic negative with future indicative to expect a positive answer. The phrase ta enenēkonta ennea {τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα | tà enenḗkonta ennéa} idiomatically yields “the ninety-nine.” The location epi ta ore {ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη | epì tà órē} identifies where the majority remain. The participial sequence poreuthēs zētei {πορευθεὶς ζητεῖ | poreuthéis zēteî} forms a circumstantial clause “having gone, he seeks,” with the present planōmenon {πλανώμενον | planṓmenon} underscoring an ongoing search. English rendering shifts dative possession into possessive verbs and renders participles as finite clauses to maintain clarity while preserving the rhetorical force of the original conditional question. |