Passive secrets

#greeknewtestament #biblestudy #futurepassive #classicalgreek #luke #gospel

LUKE 12:2

A lot of people are fascinated by this verse because they think it hints at Gnostic mysteries or encourages mysticism or is about prophecies and various other explanations.

Another aspect of interest are the verb forms

ouden de sugkekalmmenon estin ho ouk apokaluphtheesetai kai krupton ho ou gnoostheesetai

nothing (there) is and which has been hidden perfect passive participle of sugkaluptoo

note the the removal of too and the change and doubling of the p to m
note that pi + mu becomes double mu

then ho with an accent so who or which not FUTURE PASSIVE will be revealed
teh pi changes again to a phi befor ethe theta that marks passive
and  secret which will be known ginooskoo has a sigma before the passive marker as the actual stem is gnoo

Note which in Greek not that

Note the future passive

Lets reverse that without changing the meaning more than slightly

If Jesus had spoken modern English he might have said everything that is hidden or covered up or secret will become revealed or known.

I think Luke was not just bilingual or multilingual and not only retains the parallelism we see in Hebrew texts but enhances this with prose rhythm being a speaker of Koine Greek who probably also read some classical Greek literature.

So this verse tells us something about secrets and about posibly about Luke as a person and writer.

Consider next what verse 3 says that things said in the dark will be heard in the light and private whisperings proclaimed in public.

No more secrets.

and 3 very good examples of the passive and sound changes caused by adding theta to a stem

Words of Authority

#luke #gospel #greeknewtestament #biblestudy #exousia #didache #expleessoo

LUKE 4:32 
"and they were astonished at his teaching 
for his word was with authority"

Let's look at 3 key words in this verse!

first a transliteration ...

kai eksepleessonto epi teei didakheei autou hoti en eksousiai een ho logos autou

and they were "outstruck" / struck at imperfect passive  of ekpleessoo
upon / by / after  epi plus dative
the teaching of him that in authority / power was the word / speech of him

Struck at sounds too strong in English yet that is what this verb means.

So one of the reasons Jesus' teaching had such an impact on the eyewitnesses Luke mentions at the beginning of his gospel is that his word had power, exousia which can be personal spiritual or political.

Those who heard it were struck by the teaching didakhee what you learn from teaching.
Didakhee became doctrina in Latin hence our doctrine but teaching is its meaning.
Not Luke emphasizes the TEACHING over PREACHING

We use for in English where Greek starts a secondary clause with hoti that as a clause marker and we would say with in English where Greek uses en.

The power was within him and coming out of him as expressed as speech.

LUKE not Skywalker the Evangelist

While I was "convalescing" from a nasty bout of sinusitis and its usual side effects and symptoms I was translating the preface of Luke's Gospel and let me tell you ... its even wierder in Greek!

#NTgreek #newtestamentgreek #luke #gospel

Matthew starts his Gospel with over a dozen verses listing Jesus' ancestors from Abraham to Joseph.

Mark starts with the source of the goodnews of ... cites one of Isiah's prophecies and then its straight to the action of the Baptism.

John is in the beginning was the word ...

Luke however is SO VERY HELLENIC YET STILL JEWISH !

Legend has it that Luke was a physician but Jewish or Hellenic ?

I think both !

He opens with a very greek epeideeper epei+dee+per ..since indeed or in asmuch as  or
I'll stick to the simplest translation since ... since many things I did attempt to arrange (in) a narrative about the and here's a Perfect Passive Participle of all things! ... not even a common term in Hellenisitic greek pepleerophoreemenoon his narrative is about matters pragmatoon that amongst us have been fullfilled events that happened.

He's saying this is history not a story or essay a narration based on ... verse 2 eyewitnesses those who saw the events themselves and "attendants" people who were nearby at the time 

Like Herodotus and other historians he did an enquiry before he wrote a report

Like a doctor he's asked about what happened and taken notes.

Luke also tells us and Theophilos at the beginning of Acts that his previous writings or first words were made about all the things which Jesus began to both do and teach.

Getting back to that wierd perfect passive the things and events and actions he wrote about needed to be expressed in the Perfect tense rather than Aorist because they to him were a sequence of events not one single action.

I should note some translate pepleerophorew as fully believe but note it is a compound of pleerow and phorew something fully carried out FULFILLED

Its as if he's both referring to prophecies being fulfilled but wants to stress they were actions that have consequences and are still having results.

His target audience apart from Theophilos seems to be Greek speaking Literate Jews similar to both Historical literature and the Old Testament and he is said to have come from Antioch a Greek colony.

Unlike the other apostles he feels to the need to emphasize this is history.

and this formal declaration's strength comes across in English and Greek

Next time I may look at some other prefaces ... if my wretched sinusitis finished clearing up and I don't have another relapse into being surrounded by tissue boxes and alternating coughing with sneezing.

Starting Luke and a little sociolinguistic mystery

While the next mid week post will feature Apollo our Sunday posts will be on the Gospel of Luke and New Testament Greek therein.

LOUKAS seems to be an attempt to write a Latin name in Greek as the Greeks wrote the Roman U and V with the two letters OU as U in Greek at that time was a different vowel sound.

Its not Lucius the Greeks would have spelt that as Loukios !

A lot of scholars think its a shortened form of Lucanus? 

Eusebius the historian claims Luke was a physician and a Syrian from Antioch.
But a Syrian Greek or Jew ? Perhaps the answer is that local Syrian Greeks and Jews had a usage of spelling Lukios and Lucanus and similar names as Loukas or of changing i to a and vice versa.
There is no other record of such a practice but it would explain why Loukas in its Greek Latin and Aramaic forms rapidly became a popular name. I could see people using the well known gospel writer's name as a support for using a colloquial form and it than spreading beyond Antioch to other parts of the empire.

It also shows how much interchange there was between various ethnic and language groups,

This is reflected in Luke's writings.

While I usually focus in what Jesus said the Preface to Luke's Gospel is worth a close look as an example of that cultural exchange I mentioned. 

So coming up next Apollo midweek  then Luke !

Join me!

TEXTUAL VARIANT IN MARK 10:19

Well I have found a verse in which there actually is a significant textual variant.
#biblestudy #greeknewtestament #koinegreek #textualcriticism

Usually I tell people NOT to worry too much about Textual Variants.

This one is minor ONE ADDED Verbal Phrase but Significant for Doctrinal Reasons

Okay Mark 10:19 and in Mark ONLY to the list of commandments is added one phrase

Do NOT defraud mee apostereeseeis Aorist Subjunctive.

Apostereoo means to NOT rob bereave or defraud someone of something that is rightfully theirs.

It is not in the ten commandments but seems to derive from the Greek translation of Deuteronomy 24 : 14 -15  in which employers are told not to oppress workers local or foreign by denying or failing to give their wages.

So why would Mark or some later scribe insert this when its not in the other gospels?

Consider the context the right young man trying to prove how righteous he is and how he deserves salvation.

It may possibly have been added by a later scribe than mark but the message is valid and biblical!

Don't stress on the small differences like this though! Its one phrase!

SALTY CONTEXT OF PEACE

#bible study #greeknewtestament #mark #gospel #salt

There's a couple of verses in Marks' Gospel often described as enigmatic and yet as reading the same way in English Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic due to the grammar and words choices.

Yes I'm typing about Chapter 9  Verses 49 - 50

All for with fire will be salted. (lovely example of future passive and dative of agent)

Fine/good (is) SALT if (conditional form ean) the salt saltless / unsalt becomes (note geneetai subjunctive in/ with  what / which you will season it ?  or is it season with it?
have in yourselves salt and be at peace in / amongst each other.

Thing is this whole dscussion started with the disciples arguing about who was the greatest amongst them and moved through several topics and then ...I think there should be a pause between verse 48 and 49.
Jesus had just cited a belief that Hell was a place in which fire never was extinguished

I think this gave him an idea.

Some burnt offerings were slated before being placed in flames and there is a also a cooking technique of using salt crusts to seal in seasonings and flavours.

Maybe he was being ironic . 
Maybe as he spoke to his followers some one nearby was preparing a dish for an oven.

You will be salted for the fire ? Or everything is salted for the fire.

Salt used for cooking can not be reused but salt is an essential thing.

Was someone nearby arguing about how much salt should be used?

The disciples had been arguing and look how verse 50 ends.

Be at peace amongst yourselves and each other.

Keep your salt. Don't waste it?

Maybe those two verses aren't so enigmatic but more ironic?

Maybe the most important message is not about salt but about PEACE

eireeneute en alleelois 

BE PEACEFUL

and revise the uses of the dative case !

Bad Words and Blasphemy.

#greekbiblestudy #biblestudy #greeknewtestament

The RSV translates Blasphemia in several places as slander rather than blasphemy in the modern sense of the word.

The parallel passages Matthew 15:19 and Mark 7:22 are two of those places.

So why Slander?

Blasphemy originally meant something more like "ILL SPEAKING"  to speak evil against someone, to slander , insult, to use words hurtfully, against other humans, not deities.

It translates a Hebrew / Aramaic word GUDAPHA.
(If any readers know Hebrew please comment my Hebrew Aramaic can best be described as sparse)

Blasphemia is a compound of BLAS +PHEMIA

The blas is NOT related to English Blast which is Germanic in origin or to the radical Blast- used in biology coming from a word meaning growth.

So in this passage Jesus is not just talking about blasphemy towards the divine but using insults and slander in general.

This doesn't mean you can't sometimes be sarcastic or snarky or you're sinning if you blurt out certain types of words  under extreme stress or provocation  but if your intent is to be willingly evil and hurt some one ...

This whole chapter speaks of how we need to be concerned with wilful error, and that following certain rituals and customs don't necessarily make you holy or righteous or pure if you sin in other ways.

Our mid week secular theme at the moment is Dogs in Classical Art.

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Apostolic Poverty

In Mark 6:7-13 and parallel passages in Matthew and Luke Jesus gives orders to his tweleve amjor disciples as to how they were to dress and equip themselves for ministry.

He commands paraaggelloo them to take/ lift off  airoo nothing  with them expect a staff , ei mee rabdon monos, and maybe a few copper khalkon coins tucked in their belt. They are not to carry bread or a leather bag, peran, and not to wear 2 tunics, just one and sandals.

Matthew differs in commanding them to have no gold silver or copper, don't carry any money,.

The differences very small may be due to him having to reissue this order a few times and varying or altering it perhaps because well meaning relatives tried to load down the boys with bags of flat bread or spare sandals or fancy walking sticks that were not plain wood?

The modern equivalent of this might be going out street preaching with nothing in your pockets, literally nothing, meeden, mee, is used in greek, and not even using public transport?

However there was no public transport system in ancient Palestine / Galilee and these men were walking much shorter distances between villages and used to walking!

Bear in mind the sandals were probably quite plain and more like thongs or havianas, a toe strap, maybe an ankle strap or a strap across the top of  the foot and they probably may have had a cloak for rough weather?

Verses like this contributed to the later practices of monastic poverty!

Faith not hysteria

Mark 5 Verse 36 continues the Faith Not Fear theme spread out through Chapters 4 and 5.

Jesus has scolded the apostles for being afraid rebuked demons and reassured a frightened woman and now he tells the synagouge ruler DO NOT FEAR ONLY BELIEVE

He's again asking others not to be fearful and panick but to trust him.
The apostles were asking for a miracle when perhaps they should not have been panicking.
The frightened woman needing healing could have been bolder and the family and friends of Jairus were hysterical with grief when perhaps they should have been calling for a physician?

Note also the commonsense involved. He heals the girl but also reassures and calms the parents and gets the crowd to go out of the house and when finished reminds the parents to get the girl further treatment and feed her (was she anorexic or had blood sugar issues?)

Note how healing through faith or other miracles are linked to people avoiding fear panic and hysteria? Faith and action ?!

METANOEITE - change yourself

#METANOEI

#wordstudy #gospel #greeknewtestament #classicalgreek

One of the first direct quotes from Jesus in Mark's Gospel is a statement that includes the word METANOEITE,( Mark 1:15) generally translated as REPENT, however its actually more a command to think again about previous actions and thoughts, you change because you have changed your mind or NOOS.

Note that Jesus doesnt say repent your sins but just METANOEITE!

You can check the LSJ online Lexicon sitehttp://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/ to confirm this but I want to recommend you look at one of Wesleys Sermons: VII of the 44 collected sermons. NO I'm not a Methodist but I found a copy of his sermons at a book sale and allowing for the 18th century context there is much sound common sense in them.

Some quotes from Wesley: " 'repent"; that is, know yourselves."

and further along "cease from evil, and learn to do well,

Modern readers may find his discussion of sin and guilt disturbing but bear in mind he also advises his listeners and readers to "be deeply sensible of this,"

Awareness of error is part of changing your mind.

Why cite Wesley. Remember he was a scholar who studied Latin and Greek before he became a preacher.

Metanoeite could also be literally translated as "Have after thoughts" or Consider your previous actions. Note also this is place before the words have faith in the Gospel.

Repentance is change. Metanoei Metaballei

Pharisees Scribes and Hypocrites Part Two

#biblestudy
Let's compile a list of what the Pharisees and Scribes are condemned for in Matthew 23

NUMERO UNO Being Hypocrites

So what is a Hypocrite or what was the word used to describe in Jesus' time?

A HYPOCRITE was literally a mask wearer an actor

Most forms of acting comedy farce or tragedy and possibly the Pantomimes which may have been more like ballet involved wearing masks.

An word originally used for the theatre came to mean a pretender or liar in common usage.

While the Greek and Roman Colonists probably had minimal interactions with the local rural population in Galilee urban Jews in larger towns would have been aware or maybe even snuck in to see plays that were staged in public.

So the Pharisees "love the place of honor" and wearing decorated robes and mission work, making proslytes, converts to Judaism, taxing market goods like herbs, overlooking corruption, and in
Verses 29-30 they are condemned for honoring prophets but not fully acknowledging the sins of their ancestors and still killing, crucifying, and scourging dissenters.

Physical force towards dissenters is condemned.

Basically they are saying one thing and doing another, more concerned with appearances than truly righteous actions.

Some people particularly the Puritans have used this verse to condemn acting as a profession but remember its the actions not the profession that is condemned.

They seem to have been more concerned with the appearance of law and order than actual justice and righteousness.

The Two Great Commandments

Lets start a new year of working our way through the #gospel of #Matthew with the Two Great Commandments.

Matthew 22:34-40  Jesus's response to the Pharisees and Sadducees was to quote 2 Old Testament verses.

Love your lord god with the whole of your heart and the whole of your soul and he adds on and with your mind!

That's from Det. 6.5 and yes EN can mean with Do check Liddell and Scott's entry on this !

Then he states

second and like this

Love the one nearby of you as yourself.

Which comes from Lv. 19:18

Note how he emphasizes practical action!

and then in verse 40 he finishes by stating

on these two commandments / laws whole the law hangs and the prophets

Hang is used as it is sometimes in English also to mean DEPEND SUSPEND.

I wonder if decorated parchment scrolls of the Ten Commandments or other Old Testament quotes were popular cheap wall hangings?

Remember throughout this new year that Love is something we do.

Do something practical whether its a minor or major action.


And Happy Epiphany and Christmas again if you're Orthodox to all my readers!

Servants Among You

Servants Among You
Matthew 20:25-28

#biblestudy #whatjesussaid #greeknewtestament

What Church leadership should be! Servants to all ?


Verse 25 and the Jesus summoning them said

You know that the rulers of the nations lord over them and the great have power over them

Verse 26

NOt so will it be in in you plural
(changed to among in English in the sense of being IN a group)
but whoever wants among you great to become will for you servant
diakonos can refer to a free or slave servant attendant or minister and the word implies someone who stirs up dust being busy for you  dia + koneoo )

Verse 27

and whoever wishes among you to be first will be for you slave!

diakonos and doulos alike serve others

Verse 28 even as the son of man not came to be served but to serve and to give the soul / life of him (as) ransom instead / for many.

Anti here ... remember how the greeks romans and jews measure coinage not just by counting but also balancing weighing and assessing coins. One gold coin would be worth many silver or copper!

Real leadership is having and taking responsibility for others not just having orders but service!

All Things Possible

#biblestudy #newtestamentgreek #dunatos

Matthew 19:26

so the disciples had just asked freaking out about how the young rich man had been told to go sell his possessions and give to the poor.

Who then can be saved?  They asked.

and Jesus looked at them begins the next verse
and I'm thinking a long hard stare because they're worried about their personal salvation rather than how they could practise the simple advice to be obey the commands and laws and help those worse off ...

Jesus then says

With Humans this impossible is
and with god all things are possible.

Note its salvation he's talking about not miracles but bear in mind

dunatos means powerful and strong as well as possible

and that statement if you think about it at length sends a shiver down the spine.

panta all dunatos possible
scary ???

Difficult and easier

Difficult and Easier
some comments and observations about Matthew Chapter 19 Verses 23 - 24
but first my usual word for word rough translation

the and jesus said to the students of him
amen i say to you that
 (for is used in English as that best expresses meaning of greek syntax)
rich  difficultly difficult ... its an adverb in Greek and you just can't translate this in English! so duskoloos - oos adverb ending becomes difficult !
that for (the) rich difficult to come into the realm of the heavens

again and i say to you easier
 (eukopos in comparative form note the ooteron ending!)
is (for) camel through opening of a needle to pass through
than (for) rich to enter into the realm of god

a further note about duskolos and eukopos
if you have access to a lexicon look out these two words and then look up the stems and observe how the prefixes change the meanings of the stems

Many people want to be both RICH and Righteousness
but the two don't always go together

look back to the prior verses

You don't see Jesus saying condemn the poor for being lazy or sinners but help the wretched yet I see some preachers and ministers and politicians equate poverty alleged laziness and sin

I don't think Jesus would have approved of the so called Prosperity Gospel ???

WHAT IS GOOD

WHAT IS GOOD ?

Matthew 19:16-19

so a young man comes up to jesus and asks

What good will I do so that I will have life eternal?


Jesus reply

Why me you ask about the good?
one is the good
if and you wish into the life to enter observe the commandments

the young man asks WHICH?

Jesus does not recite all ten but note what he does do.

VERBS are used. ACTION is emphasized.

The verb I translated as observe teereoo also means watch and guard  so what follows are things to avoid and things to do.

As I'm going to discuss that in further detail next week I want to return to the question WHAT IS GOOD?

Later theologians spun Jesus' statement that the One is Good into a point of agreement with Platonic Philosophy GOD IS GOOD

but how do we become part of that Eternal Goodness, enter the Good Life?

WE DO GOOD

This is something All religions and Many philosophies agree on.

Do good. Avoid Evil. Don't just talk about it.

Before next week read down to Verse 22.
Jesus keeps getting us to think about practical actions we can take.

GOODNESS IS ACTION.

If you follow me on Twitter or FB you may have noticed I'm somewhat distracted by #SDCC and the new Star Trek movie.

Do consider how you can do good things
without donning a superhero costume or joining Star Fleet!
Oh and you do happen to do cosplay consider using it
to help raise money for local charities!

HARDHEARTEDNESS

#Matthew #chapter 19 #divorce #biblestudy #greeknewtestament

The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 19 Verses 1 - 9 discusses divorce.

I often see these verses used to advise advising women to stay in abusive situations or to argue against same sex marriage but however you read and use these verses please reconsider verse 8.

The key word in this section may be

HARDHEARTEDNESS

SKLEEROKARDIA

Jesus's response to the Pharisees draws attention to male hypocrisy.

Moses for the hardheartedness of you permitted for you to release the women of you from beginning but not happened so ...

and note what he says in 9

whoever releases the women of him not for sexual immorality and marries another he is adulterous.

Men were divorcing women for barrenness or ill health or other reasons and claiming there was improper behaviour on the wife's part.

Yes some versions have extra phrases that ban remarriage but again notice the word hardheartedness?

Jesus describes it as a cause.

If a man is so hardhearted he physically or verbally or in other ways abuses or neglects his wife then surely this is also a valid cause for divorce?

Yes too fond the wife gets the blame and people presume adultery.

I think Jesus calls on us to think about this carefully

Note the final words of verse 12

he who is able to hold it let him hold it!

Khorew means make room accept practise hold contain .

Going bakc to the Pharisees original question

divorce for any cause kata pasan aitian

What causes adultery and divorce?

Consider hardheartedness as a cause?

Be Careful what you ask for

Matthew 18 18 -20 Matthew 18:19

#biblestudy #greeknewtestament

These 3 verses and in particular 19 shows why a knowledge of greek can be useful.

Many commentators presume these verses are about the power of prayer but ...
let us consider them in context and then phrase by phrase.

Chapter 18 talks about forgiveness and protecting the innocent and sin and ends in a parable about a royal servant who asks for forgiveness of a debt and then goes and mistreats a minor debtor.

Verse 18

amen i say to you whatever is bound upon the earth will be bound in heaven and whatever is loosened upon the earth will be released in heaven

Verse 19

again i say to to you that if/whenever two agree sumphooneoo
which is literally make sounds in unison
out of you plural upon the earth about the whole  affair event activity
NOTE THE NOUN IS PRAGMATOS !
not a prayer or a wish a discussion about something!
relative pronoun so whichever? they asked
it will happen - geneesetai to them be done to them
by the father mine in the heavens

verse 20

where for are 2 or 3 gathered together in mine name there i am in middle of them.

It may well be what they receive as a response to their discussion or joint prayers might not be a wish?

Think carefully and read deeply the next section.

Be careful what you ask for!

LIKE A CHILD

#biblestudy #greeknewtestament #matthew #whatjesussaid

Matthew Chapter 18 Verses 1-4

I know some bibles include 5 in the first paragraph of this chapter.

The word for word translation rough and ready !
Verse One
In that hour / time came forth / towards the students/ learners (its matheetai)
 to the Jesus saying

Who (ara is emphatic particle) most / greatests is in the Realm of the heavens?

Verse Two
and forthcalling a child he place/positioned/stood that child in middle in them

Verse Three
and said

Truly I say to you if not you turn around
 (yourself implied its an aorist passive subjunctive in greek )
and become as / like children
not / never (double negative in greek)
you will enter / come into the realm of the heavens!

Verse 4
Whoever therefore will humble himself as /so / like this child
this one is the greatest in the realm of the heavens

Will Humble is tapeinoosei tapeinow so to be humble and meek like a very small innocent child or perhaps a sensible child with good manners?

Maybe this child had be quietly edging his or her way closer and closer to Jesus and had been standing on the edge of the group quietly humbly waiting until Jesus called that child forward into the middle of the group?

Unlike the disciples he just wanted to listen or be near Jesus.

A good lesson when one spends too much time on hypothetical questions?

Don't just ask about the Divine BE with the Divine!

Though it is okay to ask hypotheticals if you get your priorities right!

Its Mothers Day in my country.

If you need an ecard or a file you can use as a starter for your own ecards or late minute designs please visit my www.glyphika.blogspot.com and if you like the png use it!

Losing and Gaining ...Worlds and Souls

#biblestudy #greeknewtestament #gospel #whatjesussaid

Matthew 16: 24 - 28

There's a few places in this passage where the RSV and other English translations have to change the word order and simplify some Greek phrases.

I hope this following paraphrase and notes will show you why.

By the way folks I do these paraphrases to give you some idea of the word order in Greek not cos I'm too lazy to do a full translation.

Matthew Chapter 16 24 - 28

Jesus is still talking to and teaching the disciples about the whole Son of Man thing and not just to Peter but all of them says

Verse 24

If anyone wants after me to come (many translators simplify this to follow)
 (thelei is not a subjunctive though can function as one it means desire wish want will ... would in the sense of intending to do something)
let him utterly deny  himself
aparneomai in Aorist Imperative form
and lift raise take up
aratoo < airoo Aorist Imperative Again !
the cross his and follow me

Verse 25 who for ever wants / would (subjunctive here)  the life / soul his to save will lose / destroy it.

Remember apollumi / apolesei is NOT just misplace or lose an object but lose it because it is destroyed !

Who and ever loses the life / soul his for the sake / because of  me will find it!

Verse 26

what for it profits / benefits ... a human if (ever) the world whole he should gain as profit and the soul / life of should be penalized / fined / pay a penalty
zeemiooo Aorist Subjunctive

 Note the verb Not totally lost but lessened?

Or what gives a human (in) exchange for the soul / life his?

Verse 27

mellei intends plans will come in future for the son of the man to come in the glory of the father his with the angels his and then will pay back to each according to the deeds actions his
 (its singular in greek praxin so actions / activities / deeds  as a whole?)

Verse 28

amen i say to you that they are some of those here standing some
(note use of indefinite relative in greek oitines) not (only implied) double negative in greek emphatic
who will not taste death until they see the son of the man coming in the realm his.

Sometimes unfortunately to get the translation to flow smoothly in English some aspects of the syntax have to be simplified and condensed usages that increase emphasis in Greek and presumably Aramaic too are actually less so in English.

This is why I  and other commentators draw attention in notes to the use of Imperatives and Subjunctives in Greek.

Hope these notes and observations help and not hinder your bible study.

A note for new readers

I use the UBS Aland Greek new Testament.
English RSV though I sometimes consult other versions.
Lexicon Liddell and Scott
Rieneckers Linguistic key I often find helpful too!

If you can afford one do try to acquire Goodwin's Greek Grammar!

I am eternally grateful to the person many years ago who gifted me their copy of Goodwin and Liddell and Scott!