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Greek Lessons
- Freedom from Decay: The Passive Voice of Hope
- Money into Perdition: Optatives, Infinitives, and the Value of the Gift
- Following the Teacher: Aorist Participles, Future Intentions, and Conditional Clauses
- Two Witnesses: Pronouns, Participles, and Present Tense in John 8:18
- Blind Minds and Hardened Hearts: Koine Simplicity versus Classical Subtlety
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Category
Tag Archives: John 6:18
The Sea Was Stirred: Passive Imperfect and the Grammar of Rising Chaos
ἥ τε θάλασσα ἀνέμου μεγάλου πνέοντος διεγείρετο. (John 6:18)
As the Wind Blew, the Sea Awoke
John 6:18 gives a compact but vivid description of a growing storm that sets the stage for Jesus walking on the sea. The Greek employs a genitive absolute, a passive imperfect verb, and the narrative particle τε to convey rising tension and atmospheric drama. The grammar mirrors the physical reality: the disciples’ world is becoming unstable.
1. Subject and Narrative Connector: ἥ τε θάλασσα ἥ – Nominative singular feminine definite article, referring to θάλασσα τε – Enclitic particle meaning “also” or “and indeed,” used here to tightly link this clause to what came before θάλασσα – “the sea,” the subject of the main verb διεγείρετοThis phrase introduces the main scene — “the sea also…” — contributing to the narrative escalation.… Learn Koine Greek