Ἐπιστραφεὶς ὁ Πέτρος βλέπει τὸν μαθητὴν ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀκολουθοῦντα (John 21:20)

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Title:  Peter Having Turned Saw the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved Following

The text is, “Ἐπιστραφεὶς ὁ Πέτρος βλέπει τὸν μαθητὴν ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀκολουθοῦντα ὃς καὶ ἀνέπεσεν ἐν τῷ δείπνῳ ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν κύριε τίς ἐστιν ὁ παραδιδούς σε”.

Ἐπιστραφεὶς ->aorist, passive, participial, masculine, singular, nominative verb -> having turned

ὁ -> masculine, singular, nominative article -> the NRIEH**

Πέτρος -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Peter

βλέπει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> he sees CER* saw

τὸν -> masculine, singular, accusative article -> the

μαθητὴν -> masculine, singular, accusative noun -> disciple

ὃν -> masculine, singular, accusative, definite, relative pronoun -> whom

ἠγάπα -> third person, singular, imperfect, active,indicative verb -> loved

ὁ -> masculine, singular, nominative article -> the NRIEH

Ἰησοῦς -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Jesus

ἀκολουθοῦντα -> present, active, participial, masculine, singular, accusative verb -> following

ὃς -> masculine, singular, nominative, definite, relative pronoun -> who

καὶ -> adverb -> also

ἀνέπεσεν -> third person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> leaned

ἐν -> preposition taking the dative for its object word -> during

τ ῷ -> neuter, singular, dative article -> the

δείπνῳ -> neuter, singular, dative noun -> supper

ἐπὶ -> preposition taking the accusative for its object word -> against

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

στῆθος -> neuter, singular, accusative noun -> chest

αὐτοῦ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, genitive pronoun -> his

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

εἶπεν -> third person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> said

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

τίς -> masculine, singular, nominative, interrogative pronoun -> who

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

ὁ -> masculine, singular, nominative article -> the

παραδιδούς -> present, active, participial, masculine, singular, nominative verb -> one delivering over

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

The meaning of this verse is,

Peter having turned saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned during the supper against his chest, and said, “Lord, who is the one delivering you over?”

*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”.

Ἐπιστραφεὶς ὁ Πέτρος βλέπει τὸν μαθητὴν ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀκολουθοῦντα (John 21:20) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.