Matthew 15:27

15:27 Yea, (l-4) Or else we may say 'Yet' here, as admitting the truth, but pleading; nai is used for affirming what is said, but also for beseeching, as, indeed, in English we say, 'Yes, do it.' 'Yet' seems perhaps to express this more clearly, as the admission of what Christ said is thus evident; the 'but' is wanting if we say 'yea.' The Authorized Version avoids the difficulty discussed by all the critics by translating freely, but the 'for even' of the original is lost. 'Yet' thus used gives assent and obsecration, and this seems the force of nai . See Revelation 22:20 , 'Amen; come.' If we say 'Truth, Lord,' we must add 'yet.' 'Truth, Lord, [yet hear] for even.' As to nai having this tacitly beseeching character, see Philemon 1:20 , and so it is taken by many. Otherwise nai contradicts the Lord, who had said ouk , and kai gar follows naturally. And I suspect this to be the better sense. 'Yes, Lord, you may do it, for even.' so I have put it in the text.