Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 9:13

πλεῖον ἢ πέντε ἄρτοι καὶ ἰχθύες δύο. The contraction is an anakoluthon, for εἰσίν refers to ἄρτοι, not to πλεῖον ἢ, which must be regarded as a sort of parenthetic addition. Compare Numbers 11:22. It was Andrew who first mentioned this fact in a tentative sort of way. The little boy (παιδάριον) who carried them seems to have been in attendance on the Apostles; evidently this was the food which they had brought for their own supply, and it proves their simplicity of life, for barley loaves (John 6:9) are the food of the poor (2 Kings 4:42; Judges 7:13; Ezekiel 4:9; Ezekiel 13:19).

εἰ μήτι πορευθέντες ἡμεῖς�. ‘Unless perchance we should ourselves go and procure.’ Εἰ with the subjunctive is very rare and archaic in Attic prose. It simply means ‘if, apart from all conditions.’ See my Brief Greek Syntax, § 201 n. In the N.T. it only occurs in 1 Corinthians 9:11, εἰ … θερίσωμεν, Luke 14:5, εἰ μὴ διερμηνεύῃ. Here Winer regards it as a sort of deliberative subjunctive not really dependent on εἰ (‘unless—are we to go and buy?’).

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 9:13

Old Testament

New Testament