Grammatical Analysis of Acts 2:17 (King James Version)

 

Give me a Grammatical Analysis of Acts 2:17. King James Version

Grammatical Analysis of Acts 2:17 (King James Version)

Sentence: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

Breakdown:

Clause 1:

• Word: "And"

  • Part of Speech: Coordinating conjunction
  • Function: Connects clause 1 with the previous sentence in Acts 2:16.

• Phrase: "it shall come to pass"

  • Part of Speech: Verb phrase
  • Function: Predicts a future event.
  • Tense: Future
  • Mood: Indicative

• Phrase: "in the last days"

  • Part of Speech: Prepositional phrase
  • Function: Modifies the verb phrase "it shall come to pass" to indicate the timeframe.

• Phrase: "saith the Lord"

  • Part of Speech: Participial phrase
  • Function: Identifies the speaker as God.
  • Tense: Present
  • Mood: Indicative

• Clause 2:

• Word: "I"

  • Part of Speech: Pronoun
  • Function: Subject of the clause.

• Phrase: "will pour out"

  • Part of Speech: Verb phrase
  • Function: Main verb of the clause.
  • Tense: Future
  • Mood: Indicative

• Word: "my Spirit"

  • Part of Speech: Pronoun phrase
  • Function: Object of the verb phrase "will pour out."

• Phrase: "upon all flesh"

  • Part of Speech: Prepositional phrase
  • Function: Modifies the verb phrase "will pour out" to indicate the recipient.

• Clauses 3, 4, and 5:

  • Each clause follows the same structure as clause 2, with:
    • A coordinating conjunction ("and") at the beginning.
    • A subject ("your sons," "your young men," and "your old men").
    • A verb phrase with a future tense verb ("shall prophesy," "shall see visions," and "shall dream dreams").
    • An object or modification describing the action.

Noteworthy features:

• Parallelism: The sentence uses parallelism in the structure of the clauses and phrases, creating a sense of rhythm and emphasis.
• Figurative language: The phrase "pour out my Spirit" is a metaphor for the outpouring of God's grace and power.
• Chiasmus: The clauses are arranged in a chiasmus (AB, BA, AB) pattern, adding further emphasis: "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," "your young men shall see visions," "your old men shall dream dreams."

Overall, the sentence is grammatically simple but rhetorically complex, using parallelism, figurative language, and chiasmus to convey a powerful message about God's future action in the world.