Greek I; Lesson 24

John 2:17

ἐμνήσθησαν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι γεγραμμένον ἐστίν· ὁ ζῆλος τοῦ οἴκου σου καταφάγεταί με.

  • Explain how οἴκου is an objective genitive.
  • καταφάγεταί is future tense. Notice this word has a different stem in the future than in the present (cf. second aorist); hence, no tense formative. Why can’t it be aorist?

ἐμνήσθησαν

  • From this, you can determine that the lexical form of εμνησθησαν is μιμνῄσκομαι.
  • The fact that the lexical form is middle/passive indicates that this verb is deponent.
  • The odd thing about this verb is that it reduplicates in the present tense. In the aorist tense, there is no reduplication.
  • The -θησ- might lead you to think that this verb is future passive but note the augment which a future will never have. The sigma belongs to the verb ending, not the tense formative.
  • The aorist tense stem is μνη- (MBG p. 313).

γεγραμμένον ἐστίν is a periphrastic (see BBG 30.14).

John 2:18

Ἀπεκρίθησαν οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· τί σημεῖον δεικνύεις ἡμῖν ὅτι ταῦτα ποιεῖς;

ὅτι ταῦτα ποιεῖς
This is a dependent clause, adverbial modifying δεικνύεις. The Jews want to know what authority Jesus had to justify his “cleansing” the temple. Hence, the antecedent of ταυτα is the cleansing of the temple. The syntactic force of this clause is probably causal; “…because you do these things.”
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John 2:19

ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν.

What mood is λύσατε?
ἐγερῶ

εγερ-        stem
εγερεσ       add the tense formative
εγερεσω       add the verb ending
εγερεω            the sigma elides because it doesn’t like to stand between two vowels (BBG 20.11)
εγερω                contraction

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John 2:20

εἶπαν οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· τεσσεράκοντα καὶ ἓξ ἔτεσιν οἰκοδομήθη ὁ ναὸς οὗτος, καὶ σὺ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερεῖς αὐτόν;

Which adjectival question is τεσσεράκοντα καὶ ἓξ answering?
οικοδομηθη

οικοδομε-         stem
οικοδομεθη       tense formative
οικοδομηθη       principle 12
οικοδομηθη        verb ending

The same thing happens with ἐγερεῖς here as above.
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John 2:21

ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἔλεγεν περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ.

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John 2:22

ὅτε οὖν ἠγέρθη ἐκ νεκρῶν, ἐμνήσθησαν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι τοῦτο ἔλεγεν, καὶ ἐπίστευσαν τῇ γραφῇ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ ὃν εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς.

ἠγέρθη

ἐγείρ-       aorist active stem
εγερ-         aorist passive stem  (MBG p. 302)
ηγερ          augment
ηγερθη        tense formative
ηγερθη           verb ending

  • ὃν εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς is an adjectival dependent clause.
  • Note the DMW.
    • What word does this clause modify?
    • Why is ὃν masculine singular?
    • Why is ὃν in the accusative case?

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John 2:23

Ὡς δὲ ἦν ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐν τῷ πάσχα ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ, πολλοὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ θεωροῦντες αὐτοῦ τὰ σημεῖα ἃ ἐποίει·

  • Translate δὲ as “now” and ως as “while”. “Now while He was…”
  • θεωροῦντες is anarthrous which means it is likely adverbial. Notice here that τὰ σημεῖα are the cause and ἐπίστευσαν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ is the effect. A glance at GGBB p. 759 shows that “cause” is an adverbial category for participles. Hence, translate θεωροῦντες with a dependent clause with “because” as your DMW.   …many believed in His Name because they saw the signs which He was doing.
  • Why should ἐποίει be translated “was doing”? What aspect is it?

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John 2:24

αὐτὸς δὲ Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἐπίστευεν αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν γινώσκειν πάντας

The use of αυτος in this verse is interesting.

The first αυτος is an intensive pronoun.  “Jesus Himself did not…”  (cf. BBG 12.10)

The second αυτος is used as a reflexive pronoun (this is rare).  “…did not entrust Himself to them.”  The key here is to note that the subject and object are the same person which is the sure sign of a reflexive pronoun.

  • When an articular infinitive occurs with the preposition δια translate with a dependent clause with “because” as the DMW. The accusative third person pronoun becomes the subject.  …because (δια) He (αυτον) knew (τὸ … γινώσκειν)
  • Study BBG 32.15 and be sure you understand how these constructions work.
  • How does principle 23 (or GGBB p. 610) apply to this verse?

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John 2:25

καὶ ὅτι οὐ χρείαν εἶχεν ἵνα τις μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐγίνωσκεν τί ἦν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ.

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