| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the adversative conjunction alla {ἀλλὰ | allà} linking Paul’s missionary ambition to a scriptural justification by contrast. The comparative clause kathos gegraptai {καθὼς γέγραπται | kathṓs gégraptai} functions as a citation formula, invoking written prophetic authority. The first relative clause Ois ouk anengelé peri autou {Οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ | Hoîs ouk anēngélē perì autoû} uses the dative relative pronoun Ois to mark those to whom proclamation should have gone but did not, with the aorist passive anengelé presenting their past state of not having had the message announced about the referent autou. The main predictive element is the future middle verb opsontai {ὄψονται | ópsontai} “they will see,” indicating a coming, experiential encounter with the one previously unannounced. A second, parallel relative clause hoi ouk akēkóasin {οἳ οὐκ ἀκηκόασιν | hoí ouk akēkóasin} employs the perfect tense to describe a settled condition of never having heard, which is then resolved by the future active synesousin {συνήσουσιν | synḗsousin} “they will understand,” emphasizing future comprehension. The twin relative clauses followed by future verbs create a balanced, prophetic parallelism: those who have not been told will see, and those who have not heard will understand. In the formal reconstruction, the citation formula is rendered literally (“just as it has been written”) and the relative pronouns are made explicit with “Those to whom…” to clarify the subjects of the future verbs. The dynamic reconstruction reshapes the formula as “as the Scripture says” and recasts the aorist passive and perfect (“was not announced,” “have not heard”) into natural English expressions (“were never told,” “have never heard”) while preserving the forward-looking force of the futures. |