λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν δεύτερον Σίμων Ἰωάννου ἀγαπᾷς με (John 21:16)

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Title:  He Said to Him, A Second Time, “Simon of John, Do You love Me ?”

The text is, “λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν δεύτερον Σίμων Ἰωάννου ἀγαπᾷς με λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε λέγει αὐτῷ ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου”.

λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> he says CER* he said

αὐτῷ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, dative pronoun -> to him

πάλιν -> adverb -> again

δεύτερον -> adverb -> a second time

Σίμων -> masculine, singular, dative, proper noun -> Simon

Ἰωάννου -> masculine, singular, genitive, proper noun ->of John

ἀγαπᾷς -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you do love

με -> first person, personal, singular, accusative pronoun -> me

λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> he says CER he said

αὐτῷ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, dative pronoun -> to him

ναὶ -> particle -> yes

κύριε -> masculine, singular, vocative noun -> Lord

σὺ -> second person, personal, singular, nominative pronoun -> you

οἶδας -> second person, singular, perfect, active, indicative verb -> know

ὅτι -> subordinating complementary conjunction -> that

φιλῶ -> first person,singular, present, active, indicative verb -> I have affection

σε -> second person, personal, singular, accusative pronoun -> for you

λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> he says CER he said

αὐτῷ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, dative pronoun -> to him

ποίμαινε -> second person, present, active, imperative verb -> you tend

τὰ -> neuter, plural, accusative article -> the NRIEH

πρόβατά -> neuter, plural, accusative noun -> sheep

μου -> first person, personal, singular, genitive pronoun -> my

The meaning of this verse is,

He said to him a second time, “Simon of John, do you love me?”  He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I have affection for you.”  He said to him, “You tend my sheep.”

*CER:  indicates a non-literal, but good translation.  In the first example here, the verb “λέγει” 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 πάλιν δεύτερον Σίμων Ἰωάννου ἀγαπᾷς με (John 21:16) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.