Tag Archives: Luke 9:3

Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτούς· μηδὲν αἴρετε εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, μήτε ῥάβδους μήτε πήραν μήτε ἄρτον μήτε ἀργύριον μήτε ἀνὰ δύο χιτῶνας ἔχειν. (Luke 9:3) One Command, Many Echoes

In Luke 9:3, Jesus gives travel instructions to His disciples—commands that seem sparse and ascetic, but under the surface they reflect rich grammatical craftsmanship. What seems at first glance like a rapid-fire list of things not to carry is actually a layered and elliptical prohibition structure—an advanced example of negative coordination using μήτε along with an infinitival ellipsis that reveals both grammatical precision and theological poignancy.

This lesson will focus on two interwoven syntactic phenomena:

Use of μήτε in a list of negative imperatival instructions Ellipsis of the verb after μήτε-series—specifically, ellipsis of the infinitive “to take” and its syntactic implications Negative Coordination with μήτε

In Greek, μήτε is used to coordinate multiple negated elements, particularly within imperatives, subjunctives, or infinitives—where οὐδέ would not be syntactically appropriate.… Learn Koine Greek