ιθαζοµένης, Euthymius.] The dilemma supposed by Meyer is not to be thought of. See Holtzmann. Their plot was unsuccessful; Jesus as He sat (ver. 2), κάτω κύψας . . . γῆν, “bent down and began to write with His finger on the ground,” intimating that their question would not be answered; perhaps also some measure of that embarrassment on account of ‘‘ shame of the deed itself and the brazen hardness of the prosecutors ”’ which is overstated in Ecce Homo, p. 104. The scraping or drewing figures on the ground with a stick or the finger has been in many countries a common
772
δακτύλω ἔγραφεν εἰς τὴν γῆν" 7. ὡς δὲ ἐπέμενον ἐρωτῶντες αὐτὸν, ΕΤ. xiii. 11; ἀνακύψας εἶπε πρὸς αὐτοὺς, “΄Ὁ ἀναμάρτητος ὑμῶν, / πρῶτος τὸν
xxi. 28. 4 Ἡ ae
Ae x. 15. λίθον ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ βαλέτω. j Deut. xvii. ,
σι ΠΣΕ k Wisd.xvil. ,
πα,
ii. 15.
8. καὶ πάλιν κάτω κύψας ἔγραφεν eis τὴν 9. οἱ δὲ, ἀκούσαντες, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς "συνειδήσεως | ἐλεγχόμενοι, Rom. ἐξήρχοντο “ets καθεῖς, ἀρξάμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἕως τῶν ήρχ ρξάμ
ἐσχάτων: καὶ κατελείφθη μόνος 6 ᾿Ιησοῦς, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἐν µέσῳ .
1Ο. ἀνακύψας δὲ 6 ᾿Ιησοῦς, καὶ µηδένα θεασάµενος πλὴν a 9 > αν Ἡ 1 νι οὖν 7 A ε , , τῆς γυναικὸς, εἶπεν αὐτῇ, yurh,! ποῦ εἶσιν ἐκεῖνοι οἱ κατήγοροί
11. Ἡ δὲ εἶπεν, “‘ Οὖδεὶς, κύριε.”
Εἶπε δὲ αὐτῇ ὁ Ιησοῦς, “OSE ἐγώ σε κατακρίνω" πορεύου καὶ
1 xvi. 8. πι Mk. xiv. ε « 19, Cp. ἑστώσα. Rev. iv. 8. 2 ὖδ s / 35 σου”; QUOELS σε κατεκρινεν ; a / ε , » BY 14. μηκετι αμαρτανε.
1γυναι Tr.W.H.
expression of deliberate silence or em- barrassment. [Sep εἰώθασι πολλάκις ποιεῖν οἱ μὴ θέλοντες ἀποκρίνεσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐρωτῶντας ἄκαιρα καὶ ἀνάξια, Euthymius.] Interesting passages are cited by Wetstein and Kypke, in one of which Euripides is cited as saying: τὴν σιωπὴν τοῖς σοφοῖς ἀπόκρισιν εἶναι. —Ver. 7. The scribes, however, did not accept the silence of Jesus as an answer, but “‘ went on asking Him”’. For this use of ἐπιμένω with a participle cf. Acts xii. 16, ἐπέμ.ενεν κρούων ; and see Buttmann’s N.T. Gram., 257, 14. And at length Jesus lifting His head, straightening Himself, said to them: ‘O ἀναμάρτητος ... βαλέτω, ‘let the faultless one among you first cast the stone at her”. ἀναμάρτητος only here in N.T. In Sept. Deut. xxix. 19, ἵνα μὴ συναπολέσῃ ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς τὸν ἀνα- µάρτητον. It can scarcely have been used on this occasion generally of all sin, but with reference to the sin regarding which there was present question ; or at any rate to sins of the same kind, sins of unchastity. They are summoned to judge themselves rather than the woman. —Ver. 8. Having shot this arrow Jesus again stooped and continued writing on the ground, intimating that so far as He was concerned the matter was closed. — Ver. g. of δὲ . .. ἐσχάτων. ‘And they when they heard it went out one by one, beginning from the elders until the last.” [The words which truly describe the motive of this departure, kat ὑπὸ τῆς συνειδήσεως ἐλεγχόμενοι, are deleted by Tr.W.H.R.] πρεσβυτέρων refers not to the elders by office but by age. They naturally took the lead, and the younger men deferentially allowed them to pass and then followed. Thus
? exeLvot OL κατηγοροι σου Omitted by W.H.R.
κατελείφθη µόνος . . . ἑστῶσα. Jesus was left sitting and the woman standing before Him. But only those would retire who had been concerned in the accusation: the disciples and those who had pre- viously been listening to Him would remain,—Ver. 1Ο. ἀνακύψας . . . Jesus, lifting His head and seeing that the woman was left alone, says to her: Ἡ γυνή . . . κατέκρινεν; “ Woman,” nominative for vocative, as frequently, but see critical note, ‘‘ where are they? Did no man condemn thee?” That is, has no one shown himself ready to begin the stoning ?—Ver. 11. And she said: '«Νο one, Lord”.—Etwe... ἁμάρτανε. ‘Neither do I condemn thee,” that is, do not adjudge thee to stoning. That He did condemn her sin was shown in His words µηκέτι ἁμάρτανε. Therefore Augustine says: ‘‘Ergo et Dominus damnavit, sed peccatum, non hominem ”.