λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον Σίμων Ἰωάννου φιλεῖς με (John 21:17)

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Title:  He Said to Him the Third Time, “Simon of John, Do You Have Affection for Me?”

The text is, “λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον Σίμων Ἰωάννου φιλεῖς με ἐλυπήθη ὁ Πέτρος ὅτι εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· φιλεῖς με καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· κύριε πάντα σὺ οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς βόσκε 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

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

τρίτον -> adverb -> third time

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

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

φιλεῖς -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you do have affection

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

ἐλυπήθη -> third person, singular, aorist, passive, indicative verb -> distressed | grieved

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

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

ὅτι -> subordinating causative conjunction -> because | that

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

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

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

τρίτον -> adverb -> third time

φιλεῖς -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you do have affection for

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

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

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

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

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

πάντα -> neuter, plural, accusative adjective -> of everything

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

οἶδας -> second person, singular, perfect, active, indicative verb -> have knowledge

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

γινώσκεις -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> know

ὅτι -> subordinating complementary conjunction -> that

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

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

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

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

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

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

βόσκε -> second person, singular, present, active, imperative verb -> you feed

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, “Simon of John, do you have affection for me?”  And he said to him, “Lord, you have knowledge of everything.  You know that I have affection for you.  Jesus said to him, “You feed 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 τὸ τρίτον Σίμων Ἰωάννου φιλεῖς με (John 21:17) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.