Luke 19:40

κράξουσιν. See note.

40. ἐὰν … σιωπήσουσιν. Such a construction as ἐὰν with the indicative would of course be impossible in classical Greek. It is only explicable by excluding the conditional particle from any influence over the verb—“if (under whatever circumstances) these shall keep silent.”

οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν. This is the reading of אBL for κεκράξονται, which is used by earlier and classic writers as the ordinary future of κράζω, as it is also in the LXX[335] There seems to be an allusion to the passage, “For the stone shall cry out of the wall,” which occurs amid denunciations of destruction on covetousness and cruelty in Habakkuk 2:11. It is also found in the Talmud.

[335] LXX. Septuagint.