Luke 11:11

Of which of you that is a father

(τινα δε εξ υμων τον πατερα). There is a decided anacoluthon here. The MSS. differ a great deal. The text of Westcott and Hort makes τον πατερα (the father) in apposition with τινα (of whom) and in the accusative the object of αιτησε (shall ask) which has also another accusative (both person and thing) "a loaf." So far so good. But the rest of the sentence is,will ye give him a stone?

(μη λιθον επιδωσε αυτωι;). Μη shows that the answer No is expected, but the trouble is that the interrogative τινα in the first clause is in the accusative the object of αιτησε while here the same man (he) is the subject of επιδωσε. It is a very awkward piece of Greek and yet it is intelligible. Some of the old MSS. do not have the part about "loaf" and "stone," but only the two remaining parts about "fish" and "serpent," "egg" and "scorpion." The same difficult construction is carried over into these questions also.