| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the aorist participle symphonesas {συμφωνήσας | sym-phō-nḗ-sas} ‘having agreed’, which functions temporally, indicating an action completed prior to the main verb. The postpositive conjunction de {δὲ | dé} connects this sentence to the preceding narrative flow, often rendered simply as “and.” The prepositional phrase meta ton ergaton {μετὰ τῶν ἐργατῶν | me-tá tōn er-ga-tōn} uses meta with the genitive to mark association and mutuality between the one hiring and the laborers. The expression ek denariou ten hemeran {ἐκ δηναρίου τὴν ἡμέραν | ek dē-na-rí-ou tēn hē-mé-ran} employs ek with a genitive of price, giving the rate “from a denarius” understood idiomatically as “for a denarius,” while ten hemeran specifies the duration “for the day.” The main clause centers on apesteilen autous {ἀπέστειλεν αὐτούς | a-pé-stei-len au-toús} ‘he sent them’, with the verb preceding the pronoun object in typical narrative word order. The directional phrase eis ton ampelona autou {εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα αὐτοῦ | eis ton am-pe-lō-na au-toû} uses eis with the accusative to indicate movement into a specific location, with autou marking possession of the vineyard. In English, the participial construction is rendered as a temporal clause (“after having agreed / after he agreed”) to make the sequence of events clear while preserving the sense of prior agreement that governs the ensuing action of sending. |