Λέγει αὐτῷ [ἡ γυνή]· κύριε (John 4:11)

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Title -> The Woman Said to Him, Lord

The text is, “Λέγει αὐτῷ [ἡ γυνή]· κύριε, οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις καὶ τὸ φρέαρ ἐστὶν βαθύ· πόθεν οὖν ἔχεις τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ζῶν”.

Λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> says CR* said

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

ἡ -> feminine, singular, nominative article -> the

γυνή -> feminine, singular, nominative noun -> woman’

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

οὔτε -> disjunctive coordinating conjunction -> not even

ἄντλημα -> neuter, singular, accusative noun -> a bucket or a vessel

ἔχεις -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you have

καὶ -> coordinating conjunction -> and

τὸ -> neuter, singular, nominative article -> the

φρέαρ -> neuter, singular, nominative noun -> well

ἐστὶν -> third person, singular, present, indicative verb -> is

βαθύ -> neuter, singular, nominative adjective -> deep

πόθεν -> interrogative particle -> from where

οὖν -> inferential coordinating conjunction -> therefore

ἔχεις -> second person, present, active, indicative verb -> you do get

τὸ -> neuter, singular, accusative article -> the

ὕδωρ -> neuter, singular, accusative noun -> water

τὸ -> neuter, singular, accusative article -> the NRIEH**

ζῶν -> present, active, participial, neuter, singular, accusative verb -> living

The meaning of this verse is,

The woman said to him,

“Sir, not even a bucket do you have, and the well is deep.  Thus, from where do  you get the living water?”

*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”.

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CC BY 4.0 Λέγει αὐτῷ [ἡ γυνή]· κύριε (John 4:11) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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