| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the causal phrase dia touto {διὰ τοῦτο | dià toû-to} ‘because of this’, linking the judgment to Babylon’s transgressions. The temporal expression en mia hemera {ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ | en miâ hē-mérā} ‘in one day’ is placed early for emphasis on suddenness. The future verb heixousin {ἥξουσιν | hḗ-xou-sin} ‘they will come’ precedes its explicit subject, the articular noun phrase hai plegai autes {αἱ πληγαὶ αὐτῆς | hai plē-gaí au-tês} ‘her plagues’, allowing an appositional buildup. The coordinated series thanatos kai penthos kai limos {θάνατος καὶ πένθος καὶ λιμός | thá-na-tos kaí pén-thos kaí li-mós} enumerates ‘death, mourning, and famine’, with repeated kai pacing the sense of relentless affliction. The result clause kai en puri katakauthethesetai {καὶ ἐν πυρὶ κατακαυθήσεται | kaí en py-rí ka-ta-kau-thḗ-se-tai} employs the passive future with prefix kata- to convey comprehensive burning. The conjunction hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} introduces the rationale: the emphatic adjective ischyros {ἰσχυρὸς | is-chy-rós} ‘mighty’ applies to the title kyrios theos {κύριος ὁ θεὸς | ký-ri-os ho the-ós}, and the articular aorist participle ho krinas {ὁ κρίνας | ho krí-nas} ‘the one who has judged’ presents God as the sovereign Judge executing decisive retribution. English renderings maintain the cause–result structure, the sudden timeframe, and the force of the passive, while turning the participle into a relative clause for clarity. |