| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The sentence begins with legousin autō hoi mathētai {Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί | lé-gou-sin au-tôi hoi ma-thē-taí}, where the verb–indirect object–subject order places initial focus on the action of speaking and on the addressee before explicitly naming the disciples. The dative autō points back to Jesus as the one whose prior teaching prompts this response. The conditional protasis is introduced by ei {Εἰ | Eí}, followed by the copular clause houtōs estin {οὕτως ἐστὶν | hoú-tōs és-tin}, literally “thus it is,” summarizing Jesus’ strict teaching on marriage and divorce. This clause is further specified by the nominative phrase hē aitia tou anthrōpou meta tēs gynaikos {ἡ αἰτία τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μετὰ τῆς γυναικός | hē ai-tí-a toû an-thrṓ-pou me-tá tês gy-na-i-kós}, where hē aitia functions as the subject complement describing “the case” or “situation” of the man in relation to his wife; the genitives tou anthrōpou and tēs gynaikos, joined by meta, highlight the relational and legal bond under discussion. The apodosis ou sympherei gamēsai {οὐ συμφέρει γαμῆσαι | ou sym-phé-rei ga-mê-sai} is an impersonal construction, with sympherei taking the infinitive gamēsai as its complement, yielding the sense “it is not advantageous to marry.” The negative particle ou directly modifies the verb, giving a categorical assessment rather than a mere preference. In translation, the conditional structure is preserved with “If … it is not beneficial / it would be better not to marry,” and the impersonal verb is rendered with an English “it is / it would be” construction to reflect the Greek syntax. |