Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ὅτε ἦς νεώτερος, ἐζώννυες σεαυτὸν καὶ περιεπάτεις (John 21:18)

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Title:  “Surely, Surely, I Tell You that When You Were Young, You Dressed Yourself and Walked”

The text is, “Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ὅτε ἦς νεώτερος, ἐζώννυες σεαυτὸν καὶ περιεπάτεις ὅπου ἤθελες· ὅταν δὲ γηράσῃς, ἐκτενεῖς τὰς χεῖράς σου, καὶ ἄλλος σε ζώσει καὶ οἴσει ὅπου οὐ θέλεις”.

Ἀμὴν -> Hebraicized particle -> surely | truly

ἀμὴν -> Hebraicized particle -> surely | truly

λέγω -> first person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> I tell

σοι -> second person, personal, singular, dative pronoun -> you

ὅτε -> coordinating temporal conjunction -> when

ἦς -> second person, singular, imperfect, indicative verb -> you were

νεώτερος -> masculine, singular, nominative, comparative adjective -> younger

ἐζώννυες -> second person, singular, imperfect, active, indicative verb -> you dressed

σεαυτὸν -> second person, singular, masculine, accusative, reflexive pronoun -> yourself

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

περιεπάτεις -> second person, singular, imperfect, active, indicative verb -> walked

ὅπου -> adverb of place -> where

ἤθελες -> second person, singular, imperfect, active, indicative verb -> you would

ὅταν -> subordinating temporal conjunction -> when

δὲ -> coordinating conjunction -> but

γηράσῃς -> second person, singular, aorist, active, subjunctive verb -> you should be older

ἐκτενεῖς -> second person, singular, future, active, indicative verb -> you will stretch out

τὰς -> feminine, plural, accusative article -> the NRIEH*

χεῖράς -> feminine, plural, accusative noun -> arms

σου -> feminine, plural, genitive pronoun -> your

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

ἄλλος -> masculine, singular, nominative adjective -> another

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

ζώσει -> third person, singular, future, active, indicative verb -> will dress

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

οἴσει -> third person, singular, future, active, indicative verb -> carry

ὅπου -> adverb 0f place -> where

οὐ -> negative particle -> not

θέλεις -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you do intend

The meaning of this verse is,

Surely, surely, I tell you that when you were younger you dressed yourself and walked where you would, but when you should be older, you will stretch out your arms and another will dress you and carry you where you do not intend.”

*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”.

Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ὅτε ἦς νεώτερος, ἐζώννυες σεαυτὸν καὶ περιεπάτεις (John 21:18) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.