| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the conditional frame ei de {Εἰ δὲ | Eî dè} ‘if then’, setting a serious hypothetical scenario. The noun phrases hē cheir sou and ho pous sou {ἡ χείρ σου ἢ ὁ πούς σου | hē cheír sou ē ho poús sou} ‘your hand or your foot’ precede the verb skandalizei {σκανδαλίζει | skandalízei} ‘stumbles’ (causes to stumble), highlighting the body part as the agent of spiritual lapse affecting the object se {σε | se} ‘you’. The paired aorist imperatives ekkopson {ἔκκοψον | ékkopson} ‘sever’ and bale {βάλε | bále} ‘cast away’ form an urgent injunction, with apo sou {ἀπὸ σοῦ | apó soû} ‘from yourself’ stressing total removal. The evaluative clause kalon soi estin {καλόν σοί ἐστιν | kalón soí estin} ‘for you it is good’ introduces a stark comparison between the infinitival ideals: eiselthein eis tēn zōēn {εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν | eiseltheîn eis tḕn zōḗn} ‘to go into life’ modified by the predicative adjectives kyllon ē cholon {κυλλὸν ἢ χωλόν | kyllón ē chōlón} ‘maimed or lame’, versus duo cheiras ē duo podas echonta blethenai {δύο χεῖρας ἢ δύο πόδας ἔχοντα βληθῆναι | dýo cheîras ē dýo pódas échonta blēthênai} ‘with two hands or two feet to be thrown’, concluding with eis to pŷr to aiṓnion {εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον | eis tò pŷr tò aiṓnion} ‘into the eternal fire’, where the repeated article intensifies the inescapable judgment. The translation employs a clear conditional “if then”, vivid imperatives “sever” and “cast away”, and a comparative “better … than” to convey the original’s moral urgency. |