Davide's Notes

Greek

Notes

8:1

• εν + D (εκειναις ταις ημεραις)
• πολλου οχλου, gen. abs: could be understood in temporal sense ("when there was a large moltitude"), or in causal sense ("because there was a large moltitude"). Remember that in general the subordinate clause in the genitive absolute could have a temporal (when), causal (because), concessive (although), or conditional (if) sense.
  
• εχοντων, present participle active from εχω, gen. abs., plural because οχλος is a collective noun
• φαγωσιν, aorist subjunctive active from εσθιω; this is a deliberative subj. The use of subjunctive here points to a real question being asked by the crowd, "what will we eat?", with uncertainty about the answer (remember that subj. is the mood of possibility). Cf. for a similarity Matt 6:31, τι φαγωμεν; "what will we eat?" (in the indicative, though; note deponent form in the future) Aorist subjunctive is often used in substitution to indicative future, and in general subjunctive emphasizes the kind of action rather than time (so, the emphasis is on the fact that they had nothing to eat, not that at that point in time they were without food).
• Remember that the aorist subjunctive active is formed from the aorist indicative (w/o the augment) and the subjunctive endings, -ω, -ῃς, -ῃ, -ωμεν, -ητε, -ωσι(ν) (here the aor. ind. is εφαγον). Τhey are actually the "lengthened form" of the present indicative endings -ο, -ες, -ε, -ομεν, -ετε, -ουσιν; for deponent verbs also lengthen the appropriate pres. indicative endings, e.g. δεχομαι ("I receive"), ind. aor. εδεξαμην, subj. pres. δεχωμαι, subj. aor. δεξωμαι; for subj. aor. passive: start quite obviously from aor. indicative passive and lenghten the ind. pres. active (careful! not passive) endings, e.g. ind. pres. act. γραφω, ind. aor. act. εγραψα, subj. pres. act. γραφω (γραφῃς, γραφῃ, etc), subj. aor. act. γραψω, ind. pres. passive γραφομαι, ind. aor. passive εγραφην (watch out: no θ in the ind. aor. passive here), subj. pres. passive γραφωμαι, subj. aor. passive γραφω (NB identical here to ind. pres. act., but then γραφῃς, γραφη, γραφωμεν, γραφητε, γραφωσιν, i.e. identical to subj. pres. act.).
  
• προσκαλεσαμενος, aorist participle middle deponent from προσκαλεομαι, "I summon" (προς + καλεω). This is an aorist participle: the action of the participle precedes the action of the main verb, so "he summoned the disciples and then said".

8:2

• σπλαγχνιζομαι, present deponent indicative, "I feel sympathy", followed by επι + A, where the accusative suggests active involvement toward the crowd. It is interesting that the verb is from σπλαγχνον, the inward parts, the viscera. Hence we have a psychological aspect as if to say, "this thing [of them not having to anything to eat] moves me down to my bowels", where bowels is "the seat and source of love" (BDAG), cf. Luke 1:78, δια σπλαγχνα ελεους θεου ημον, "through/because of the affectionate mercy of our God" or, as the Vulgate has it, "per viscera misericordiae Dei nostri".
• προσμενουσιν, present active indicative from προς+μενω + D. προς suggests a reinforcement of the verb μενω, i.e. something like adhere to, be with.
  
• εχουσιν, present active indicative from εχω
• φαγωσιν, see 8:1

8:3

• απολυσω, aorist active subjunctive from απολυω, dismiss; subjunctive because εαν is followed by the subj. The aorist here implies as usual a one-off action rather than a repeated one (as would be the case for the present).
  
• νηστεις, from νηστις, -ιος, from νη (neg.) + εδω, fasting.
• εκλυθησονται, future passive indicative, from εκλυω, passive with active sense, literally "set free" (εκ + λυω); in this case, metaphorically, to dissolve, i.e. to grow weak, or faint. Note the θ typical of (some) future and aorist ind. passive and the σ typical of the future (e.g. fut. ind. pass. εκλυθησομαι).
  
• τινες γαρ αυτων, because some of them.
• μακροθεν, "from far away", usual suffix θεν ("from") attached to μακρος, "far". απο is pleonastic.
  
• ηκασιν, perfect active indicative from ηκω, "I come", in place of the expected ηκουσιν. The perfect tense emphasizes a completed action the effects of which are felt even at the present (of the narrative).

8:4

• απεκριθησαι, aorist middle deponent indicative, from αποκρινομαι, "I answer" (to a preceding question or point)
• οτι, signals here direct speech
• ποθεν, "from where", again θεν + που
• δυνησεται, future middle deponent indicative, from δυναμαι, "I am able"
• χορτασαι, aorist active infinitive from χορταζω, "I feed"

8:5

• ηρωτα, imperfect active indicative, from ερωταω, "I ask".
• ειπαν, aorist active indicative, from λεγω, "I say"; remember: the aorist of this verb can take both weak or strong terminations, i.e. ειπον or ειπα.

8:6

• παραγγελλει, present active indicative, from παρ + αγγελλω, "I give command". This is obviously an historic present (e.g. the Textus Receptus has παρηγγειλεν, aorist).
• αναπεσειν, infinitive aorist active from αναπιπτω (the infinitive present active would be αναπιπτειν; remember that the aorist of πιπτω is επεσον or επεσα). πιπτω literally means "to fall", here ανα changes the meaning to "fall upon something", or "lie down", and specifically here to sit down in order to eat (the classical use would be to "lean while reclining at a meal").
• λαβων, aorist active participle, from λαμβανω, "I take". Remember that the aorist active participle is the aorist indicative w/o augment plus: -ας, -ασα, -αν for the weak form (a sigma is then normally present, e.g. λυω, aor. present ελυσα, aor. part. λυσας, λυσασα, λυσαν) or -ων, -ουσα, -ον for the strong form (as in this case, e.g. λαμβανω, aor. present ελαβον, aor. part. λαβων, λαβουσα, λαβον)
• ευκαριστησας, aorist active participle from ευκαριστεω, "I give thanks". See above for the formation of aorist active participles.
• εκλασεν, aorist active indicative from κλαω (perfectly "regular" weak verb, aor. participle κλασας), "I break". In the NT only used for breaking the bread. Do not confuse κλαω with κλαιω ("I cry").
• εδιδου, imperfect active indicative, from διδωμι, "I give".
  
• παρατιθωσιν, aorist active subjunctive (follows ινα), from παρατιθημι, "I deposit". From παρα + τιθημι, "I place". The participle of τιθημι is τιθεις, -εισα, -εν; the (strong) aorist is εθηκα (see παρεθηκαν, immediately following), with aorist participle θεις, -εισα, -θεν.

8:7

• ειχον, imperfect active indicative, from εχω, "I have". Remember the totally regular future active indicative εξω.
• ευλογησας, aorist active participle, from ευλογεω, "I bless".
• ειπεν, aorist active indicative, from λεγω (cf. 8:5).  Remember that the imperfect is the regular ελεγεν.
• παρατιθεναι, present active infinitive, from παρατιθημι, "I deposit".

8:8

• εφαγον, aorist active indicative, from εσθιω, "I eat" (cf. 8:1). εσθιω, fut. deponent φαγομαι, aor. εφαγον.
• εχορτασθαν, aorist passive indicative, from χορταζω, "I feed" (cf. 8:4); note the θ typical of the aor. (and fut.) ind. passive (εχορτασθην, εχορτασθης, etc)
• ηραν, aor. ind. act. from αιρω, "I lift up"
• περισσευματα κλασματων, pieces that were left, περισσυεμα, -ατος, το is "what remains" with the idea of superabundance, cf. περι in the sense of beyond; κλασμα, -ατος, το is "fragment, piece", clearly from κλαω, "I break".
• σπυριδας, from σπυρις, -ιδος, η, basket, specifically to collect lunch remains here but generically a basket, cf. Acts 9:25 where Paul is lowered εν σπυριδι.

8:9

• ησαν, imp. ind. act. from ειμι
• φαγοντες, aor. part. act. from εσθιω, "I eat". Aor. part. because it is obviously taken from the aor ind. (and not, say, from the pres. ind.).
• τετρακισχιλιοι, literally 4 times one thousand; one thousand is χιλιοι, remember chiliasm or millenarism.

8:10

• εμβας, aor. part. act. from εμβαινω, "I enter into", cf. εν + βαινω. Aor. ind. act. εμεβην.
• μερη, A pl. from μερος, -ους, το, "part", but in the plural "region, district".

My translation

¹In those days, since there was again a great number of people with nothing to eat, he summoned the disciples and said to them:
²I am deeply moved by this crowd, because they have been with me for three days already, and have nothing  to eat;
³and if I now let them go fasting to their homes, they will faint on their way: for some of them have come from very far away places.
⁴His disciples then replied, From where will one be able to feed bread to these people, here, in the desert?
⁵And he was asking, How many loaves do you have? They replied: Seven.
⁶He then commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and having taken the seven loaves and given thanks he broke them, and kept handing them to his disciples, so that they could distribute them. And they distributed them to the crowd.
⁷They were also having a few small fish; and having blessed them, Jesus said to give these to the crowd as well.
⁸The people ate and were filled; and seven baskets of leftovers were collected.
⁹There were about four thousand people; Jesus then dismissed them,
¹⁰and shortly, having entered into the boat with his disciples, he went to the region of Dalmanutha.