| 41. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the historic present legousin {λέγουσιν | légousin} ‘they say’, signaling direct discourse. The dative autō {αὐτῷ | au-tō̂} ‘to Him’ marks Jesus as the addressee. The predictive future clause pairs kakous {Κακοὺς | Kakoús} ‘evil men’ with the adverb kakōs {κακῶς | kakôs} ‘dreadfully’ before apolesei {ἀπολέσει | apolései} ‘he will destroy’ to intensify the pronouncement of judgment. The conjunction kai {καὶ | kaí} ‘and’ links to the middle-voice verb ekdōsetai {ἐκδώσεται | ekdṓsetai} ‘he will lease out’, taking ton ampelōna {τὸν ἀμπελῶνα | tòn ampelōna} ‘the vineyard’ as its object. The phrase allois geōrgois {ἄλλοις γεωργοῖς | állois geōrgôis} ‘to other farmers’ indicates the new tenants. The relative pronoun hoitines {οἵτινες | hoítines} ‘who’ introduces the clause apodōsousin autō tous karpous {ἀποδώσουσιν αὐτῷ τοὺς καρπούς | apodṓsousin autō̂ toùs karpoùs} ‘will give back the fruits to Him’. Finally, the temporal expression en tois kairois autōn {ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν | en tois kairôis autō̂n} ‘in their seasons’ employs agrarian legal language to specify the due time for payment. |