This adverb introduces possibility without commitment, often softening assertions or expressing polite uncertainty. In Luke 20:13, the vineyard owner deliberates: 'Perhaps (isōs) they will respect my son.' The word expresses his hopeful but uncertain expectation—a poignant irony, since the reader knows the tenants will kill the son. Classical Greek used isōs to qualify assertions ('about,' 'probably') or mark rhetorical hesitation, making statements less absolute.