| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with kai {καὶ | kaí} linking this clause to its context and highlighting the subject of poiei {ποιεῖ | poi-eî} “he causes,” which governs the enumeration of recipients. The direct object pantas {πάντας | pán-tas} is specified by a series of coordinated accusative phrases introduced by tous {τοὺς | toùs}: mikrous {μικρούς | mi-kroús}, megalous {μεγάλους | me-gá-lous}, plousious {πλουσίους | plou-sí-ous}, ptochous {πτωχούς | ptō-khoús}, eleutherous {ἐλευθέρους | e-leu-thé-rous}, and doulous {δούλους | doú-lous}. This repetitive structure via kai {καὶ | kaí} underscores social universality. The conjunction hina {ἵνα | hína} signals a purpose clause, with dosin {δῶσιν | dô-sin} “they may give” as the aorist subjunctive; although the literal verb suggests third-party action, the translation employs “receive” to accurately reflect that recipients obtain the mark. Charagma {χάραγμα | khá-rag-ma} functions as the object, localized by two prepositional phrases with epi {ἐπὶ | epí}: first governing the genitive tēs cheiros autōn tēs dexias {τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν τῆς δεξιᾶς | tês khei-rós autôn tês de-xi-âs} “on their right hand,” then the accusative to metopon autōn {τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῶν | tò mé-tō-pon autôn} “on their forehead.” The parallelism of epi and autōn binds these locations as alternative sites of the one compulsory marking. |