p420 * * * I do not think them* the same. For εἰ μὴ supposes already that there is that one of the kind to which the negative generally applies; it is an exception. But ἀλλὰ retains its adversative force as to the whole, but something modifies it in result. Thus in Matthew 11:27, there is one who knows - no one else except; - in Matthew 12:4 it was lawful to none else except. In Matthew 17:8 they saw no one, οὐδένα εἶδον εἰ μὴ τὸν Ἰ. In Mark 9:8, "and suddenly looking round," οὐκέτι οὐδένα εἶδον, ἀλλὰ τὸν Ἰ. Here the scene had disappeared, but they saw Jesus alone with themselves. So in Matthew 20:23, Mark 10:40, οὐκ ἔστιν ἔμὸν δοῦναι, that is all denied - only modified by ἀλλὰ οἷς ἡτοίμασται. He does not give places at all as His will, or His patronage, but to those for whom, etc. In Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19, if not Matthew, we have οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς, εἰ μἠ εἶς, ὁ Θεος. Naturally, good ones were before His mind: He excludes all but God.
{*When ἀλλα is used substantially as εἰ μὴ, are they precisely the same, as after the transfiguration scene, etc.? Compare Matthew 17:8 with Mark 9:8.}

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