ἡ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἡ

   hê

   the
2. sentence🔊 Καὶ εἶδον οὐρανὸν καινὸν καὶ γῆν καινήν ὁ γὰρ πρῶτος οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ πρώτη γῆ ἀπῆλθαν καὶ ἡ θάλασσα οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι

   KAI EI-don ou-ra-NON kai-NON KAI GÊN kai-NÊN ho GAR PRÔ-tos ou-ra-NOS KAI hê PRÔ-tê GÊ a-PÊL-than KAI hê THA-las-sa ouk ES-tin E-ti

   and I saw heaven new and earth new the for first heaven and the first earth passed away and the sea not is still

Exegesis

In the causal clause introduced by gar {γὰρ | gàr} ‘for’, the articles ho and hē identify the compound subject ho protos ouranos {ὁ πρῶτος οὐρανὸς | ho prō-tos oura-nos} ‘the first heaven’ and hē protē gē {ἡ πρώτη γῆ | hē prṓ-tē gḗ} ‘the first earth’, with the aorist plural verb apêlthan {ἀπῆλθαν | apêl-than} ‘they went away’ signifying the definitive departure of the original creation.

The final coordinating kai {καὶ | kaí} ‘and’ leads into the clause hē thalassa ouk estin eti {ἡ θάλασσα οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι | hē thá-las-sa ouk é-stin é-ti} ‘and the sea is not any longer’, where the present-tense description evokes a permanent absence through the negated verb ‘is not any longer’. This syntactic progression from vision-report to causal ground and then further coordinate declaration underscores the transformational character of the new creation.

Root and etymology

ge🔊 γῆgamma–eta

“earth, land”