Matthew 18:3 — ExegesisTAB

The verse begins with the narrative marker kai eipen {καὶ εἶπεν | kaí eî-pen} introducing direct speech, immediately followed by the emphatic particle Amēn {Ἀμὴν | Amḗn} ‘truly’ that intensifies the ensuing declaration legō hymin {λέγω ὑμῖν | lég-ō hymîn} ‘I say to you.’ The conditional protasis is signaled by ean mē {ἐὰν μὴ | e-an mḗ} ‘if not,’ governing two coordinated aorist subjunctives straphēte kai genēsthe {στραφῆτε καὶ γένησθε | stra-phê-te kaí gé-nē-sthe}, which together denote decisive conversion and transformation. The comparative particle hōs {ὡς | hōs} links this transformation to the exemplar ta paidia {τὰ παιδία | tà paidía} ‘the children.’ The apodosis opens with the emphatic negation ou mē eiselthēte {οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε | ou mḗ ei-sél-thē-te} ‘certainly not enter,’ taking the aorist subjunctive eiselthēte, and the goal is expressed by the prepositional phrase eis tēn basileian tōn ouranōn {εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν | eis tḕn basileían tōn ouranōn}, conveying entrance into God’s rule. The translation retains the force of the third-class condition with “unless” and the intense negation with “certainly not”/“will never,” while preserving the comparative likeness “like (little) children” and the directional sense of “enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”