Step Two- Grammatical Analysis

The next step in my exegetical is to translate and parse the Greek text of the passage. For those who don’t know to parse simply means to identify the words of the text and how they are used syntactically. I have useed a different format for the blog than I would in my personal study in order to facilitate my readers who do not know Greek. Normally I simply print out the Greek text of the passage with plenty of space to write between the lines. I then identify all the words and how they fit grammatically. Finally, I produce my own translation of the passage. Due to the blog format I have copied over the text of an interlinear of the passage to reflect the work that I would do in my next step. In the below text the top line is the Greek Text. The Second line is the English equivalent. The third line lists a Strong’s number for each word. The fourth line lists the Tense-Voice-Mood number for each Greek verb.

12 Προ παντων δε αδελφοι μου μη ομνυετε μητε τον
  Before  all  things  and my brethren, ♦ ♦ swear not, neither [by] ⋄
  4253  3956 1161 80 3450 3361 3660 3383 3588
  P AGPM, AGPN C NVPM RP1GS LN VP-AM2P C TASM

ουρανον μητε την γην μητε αλλον τινα ορκον ητω δε υμων
heaven, nor the earth; nor any other ♦ oath; but let be ∙ of you
3772 3383 3588 1093 3383 243 5100 3727 2277 1161 5216
NASM C TASF NASF C AASM RX-ASM NASM VP-XM3S C RP2GP

το ναι ναι και το ου ου ινα μη εις υποκρισιν πεσητε
the yea, yea, and the nay, nay, that not ointo hypocrisy ye might fall.
3588 3483 3483 2532 3588 3756 3756 2443 3361 1519 5272 4098
TNSN L L C TNSN LN LN C LN P NASF VA2AS2P

You may be reading this with absolutely no knowledge of the Greek language. If so that is OK. God has seen fit in His will to provide a number of useful translations that are literal to the Greek, and provide the word of God to non-Greek readers. However, for the majority of you who do not know Greek this step in my exegetical process will be useless unless you adapt it to your own needs. If you do not know Greek then you will need to use the English text (preferably a literal translation i.e. the NASB or ESV) in this step. You can take the English text and find the nouns and verbs and pronouns. Look at every word and try to determine how it functions grammatically within the passage. You will not believe how profitable this short exercise will be in your own study of God’s word.