| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with gegraptai {γέγραπται | gé-grap-tai} ‘it has been written’, a perfect passive that presents the cited text as a standing, authoritative decree. The conjunction gar {γάρ | gár} ‘for’ connects this decree logically to the preceding argument about divine judgment. The oath formula Zo ego {Ζῶ ἐγώ | Zô egṓ} ‘I live’ functions as a solemn self-imprecation, a common Semitic-style oath rendered in Greek, intensifying the certainty of what follows. The present indicative legei kyrios {λέγει κύριος | lé-gei ký-ri-os} ‘says the Lord’ presents the divine speech as vivid and ongoing. The content clause is marked by hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} ‘that’, introducing what the Lord declares: the dative emoi {ἐμοὶ | e-moí} ‘to Me’ precedes the verb kampsei {κάμψει | kám-psei} ‘will bend’, yielding the sense ‘to Me will bend every knee’, with pan gony {πᾶν γόνυ | pân gó-nu} as the subject. The parallel phrase kai pasa glossa exomologesetai tō theō {καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ θεῷ | kaí pâ-sa glô-ssa ex-o-mo-lo-gé-se-tai tôi the-ôi} balances the first with coordinated kai, shifting from bodily submission (“every knee”) to verbal acknowledgment (“every tongue”). The future middle exomologesetai {ἐξομολογήσεται | ex-o-mo-lo-gé-se-tai} emphasizes personal, decisive confession or praise directed to God in the dative. The Greek preserves a tightly structured parallelism (every knee / every tongue; bend / confess; to Me / to God), which the translations mirror using paired clauses and consistent future verbs to convey universality and certainty. |