Matthew 1:14-16

Now we come to the end of the begats:

14 Αζώρ δε εγέννησεν τον Σαδώκ,
Σαδώκ δε εγἐννησεν τον Αχίμ,
Αχίμ δε εγέννησεν τον Ελιύδ,

15 Ελιούδ δε εγέννησεν τον Ελεάζαρ,
Ελεάζαρ δε εγέννησεν τον Ματθάν,
Ματθάν δε εγέννησεν τον Ιακώβ,

16 Ιακώβ δε εγέννησεν τον Ιωσήφ τον άνδρα Μαρίας,
εκ ης εγεννήθη Ιησούς ο λεγόμενος χριστός.

The first two verses above are a list of fathers and sons, as before:

14 Azor fathered Zadok,
Zadok fathered Achim,
Achim fathered Eliud,

15 Eliud fathered Eleazar,
Eleazar fathered Matthan,
Matthan fathered Jacob

But in the final verse we come to the point. Word-for-word we have:

16 Jacob and/_ fathered the Joseph the husband of Mary,
out of (from) whom was born Jesus he (who is) called Messiah.

The first part ('Jacob fathered Joseph') is the same as in previous verses, but then we get to the phrase

τον άντδα Μαρίας
the husband of Mary.

This reads 'of Mary' because her name is in the genitive; the dictionary form is η Μαρία, without the final 'ς'. In many feminine nouns, the genitive singular is formed by adding a sigma (but not in all). The 'η' before her name is simply the feminine form of the nominative singular definite article: 'the'.

You might have trouble finding the word 'άνδρα' in a dictionary. It is in the accusative singular form because it refers to Joseph, who is the direct object of the verb εγέννησεν. But the nominative singular (dictionary) form has this spelling: ο ανήρ.

The full declension of this word in the singular is as follows:

nominative . . . . . . . . ο ανήρ
genitive . . . . . . . . . . .του ανδρός
dative . . . . . . . . . . . .τω ανδρί
accusative . . . . . . . . .τον άνδρα
vocative . . . . . . . . . . άνερ

Ο ανήρ means 'man', as opposed to a woman or a child; it can also mean 'husband'. This word (although spelled slightly differently) has retained both meanings in modern Greek.

Moving on, the next two words of the verse are

εκ ης
out of whom

The word 'εκ' is a preposition followed by the genitive; it means something like 'out of'. The word 'ης' is the feminine, genitive singular form of the relative pronoun (in this case, 'whom'). Note that in this case the Greek ης, unlike the English 'whom', is able to specify that the person in question is a woman.

Then--finally--we get to the verb and its subject. In Greek, correctly identifying the subject of the sentence can save much flailing about and misunderstanding. Here the subject of the verb 'εγεννἠθη' is neither Joseph nor Mary, but Jesus. The verb, therefore, is in the passive:

εγεννήθη he/she was born

This particular form of the verb γεννἀω, which we have not seen before, contrasts with the active form of the same verb, which we have seen:

εγέννησεν he fathered/she bore
εγεννήθη he/she was born

The verb εγεννἠθη is in the aorist passive, here indicating a simple, completed occurrence. The full conjugation of γεννάω in the aorist passive indicative is as follows:

εγεννήθην . . . . . . . . I was born
εγεννήθης . . . . . . . . you were born
εγεννήθη . . . . . . . . .he/she/it was born
εγεννήθημεν . . . . . . we were born
εγεννήθητε . . . . . . . you (plural) were born
εγεννήθησαν . . . . . . they were born

In English we are not likely to say 'was born Jesus': in Greek this word order is a common and natural phrasing.

We will leave the final phrase, and a discussion of the term Χρίστος, until tomorrow.

Χαίρετε!