| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the aorist imperative epideixate {ἐπιδείξατέ | epideí-xa-te} ‘show’, which issues a direct command from Jesus to His hearers. The indirect object moi {μοι | moi} ‘to Me’ precedes the direct object phrase to nomisma {τὸ νόμισμα | tó nó-mis-ma} ‘the coin’, with the article marking a specific, identifiable coin rather than any money in general. The genitive tou kensou {τοῦ κήνσου | toû kḗn-sou} functions attributively, specifying that this is the coin associated with the tax, thereby anchoring the command in the controversy over Roman taxation. The narrative then shifts with the postpositive conjunction de {δὲ | de} ‘but/and’, introducing the responsive clause. Here hoi {οἱ | hoi} operates as a substantival article, effectively meaning ‘they’ as the subject of prosēnegan {προσήνεγκαν | pro-sḗ-neg-kan} ‘they brought’. The indirect object autō {αὐτῷ | au-tôi} ‘to Him’ again points back to Jesus as the recipient of the action, and the final accusative dēnarion {δηνάριον | dē-ná-ri-on} names the specific coin produced, a denarius. In translation, the imperative clause is kept fronted to preserve its force, while the coordinated narrative clause follows with minimal reordering, retaining the focus on the tax-specific coin and the compliant response to Jesus’s request. |