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Title: Nathanael Said to Him, “How Do You Know Me?”
The text is, “λέγει αὐτῷ Ναθαναήλ πόθεν με γινώσκεις ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ πρὸ τοῦ σε Φίλιππον φωνῆσαι ὄντα ὑπὸ τὴν συκῆν εἶδόν σε”
λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> says CER * said
αὐτῷ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, dative pronoun -> to him
Ναθαναήλ -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Nathaniel
πόθεν -> interrogative particle -> how
με -> first person, personal, singular, accusative pronoun -> me
γινώσκεις -> second person, present, active, indicative verb -> you do know
ἀπεκρίθη -> third person, singular, aorist, passive, indicative verb -> answered
Ἰησοῦς -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Jesus
καὶ -> coordinating conjunction -> and
εἶπεν -> third person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> said
αὐτῷ -> third person, personal, singular, masculine dative pronoun -> to him
πρὸ -> preposition taking the genitive for its object word -> before
τοῦ -> neuter, singular, genitive article -> the NRIEH**
σε -> second person, personal, singular, accusative pronoun -> you
Φίλιππον -> masculine, singular, accusative, proper noun -> Philip
φωνῆσαι -> aorist, active, infinitive verb -> to call
ὄντα -> present, participial, masculine, singular, accusative verb -> being
ὑπὸ -> preposition taking the genitive for its object word -> under
τὴν -> feminine, singular, accusative article -> the
συκῆν -> feminine, singular, accusative noun -> fig tree
εἶδόν -> first person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> I saw
σε -> second person, personal, singular, accusative pronoun -> you
The meaning of this verse is,
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip to call I saw you being under the fig tree.”
*CER: indicates a non-literal, but good translation. In the first example here, the verb “ἔρχεται” is present tense, which in the indicative mood often can be rendered in the aorist tense, since it expresses linear action not in the present but at some point in the past. The designation CER is equivalent to “Contextual English Rendering”.
**NRIEH: For the sake of clarity the word is translated into English, but to avoid such odd constructions as applying a definite article (“the”) to a substantive sufficiently determined by its being a proper noun, or by the use of a qualifier other than the definite article. An example would be the basic translation “Peter said to the Jesus”; the word “the” is completely unnecessary. There are many examples of this in the New Testament. The designation NRIEH is equivalent to “Not Rendered Into English Here”.
λέγει αὐτῷ Ναθαναήλ πόθεν με γινώσκεις (John 1:48) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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