The genitive absolute

A genitive absolute consists of a noun or a pronoun, with an associated participle, all in the genitive case. In almost all cases, there is no grammatical relationship between the noun/pronoun and participle of the genitive absolute, and the rest of the sentence.

Perfectly clear?

Consider the following two sentences in English:

Although the dog was barking, the thief entered the house.
While he was talking, the class took notes.

The first phrase in each sentence is the equivalent (in classical and koine Greek) to a genitive absolute. We have:

a noun or pronoun ('the dog', 'he'),

and

a participle ('was barking', 'was talking')

and those elements are not grammatically related to the rest of the sentence. The dog was barking, but the thief entered the house. The man was talking, but the class took notes.

Of course there is some relationship between the elements: the dog might be barking because he hears the thief, and the class is taking notes, presumably, because a teacher is talking. But the relationship is not a grammatical one; more specifically, the subject of the first phrase of the sentence is not the subject of the second.

The genitive absolute was used in both classical and koine Greek: it exists in modern Greek as well, but less commonly, and generally within stereotyped phrases or a formal context.

In Matthew 1:18 (unfortunately for pedagogy!) the genitive absolute is an exception: its subject (Mary) is the same as the subject of the sentence; i.e., Mary was betrothed, and Mary was found to be pregnant. Such is Greek.

We'll finish the rest of the verse on Monday. Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:18, continued

Mνηστευθείσης της μητρός αυτού Μαρίας τῳ Ιωσήφ,
πριν ή συνελθείν αυτούς ευρέθη εν γαστρί έχουσα
εκ πνεύματος αγίου.

This is a difficult passage in terms of sentence structure. We start with the word 'μνηστευθείσης', which is a participle, that is, a part of speech with both verb and adjective aspects (see the post of 21 October 2008 for a fuller discussion of participles).

In this case the participle comes from the verb 'μνηστεύω', meaning (in the active sense) 'to ask in marriage'. But in the New Testament this verb is found only in passive forms; i.e., 'to be asked in marriage, to be betrothed'.

A participle agrees with the noun it modifies, which in this case is 'της μητρός . . . Μαρίας', 'the mother . . . Mary'. The participle itself (μνηστευθείσης), plus the words for 'mother' (μητρός), and 'Mary' (Μαρίας) are all in the feminine, genitive, singular form. We will discuss why they are in the genitive in a moment. But for now, look at the word 'αυτού', which is between 'μητρός' and 'Μαρίας'.

The word 'αυτού' is the genitive singular form of a masculine pronoun, here meaning 'his'. So we have:

της μητρός αυτού Μαρίας
the mother his Mary

i.e., 'his mother Mary'.

What about his mother Mary? The participle explains:

μνηστευθείσης της μητρός αυτού Μαρίας
being betrothed the mother his Mary

i.e., his mother Mary being betrothed.

Betrothed to whom?

μνηστευθείσης της μητρός αυτού Μαρίας τῳ Ιωσήφ
being betrothed the mother his Mary to the Joseph

i.e., his mother Mary being betrothed to Joseph.

The definite article/noun combination 'τῳ Ιωσήφ' is in the dative case; that case often indicates that we should add the word 'to' or 'for'.

But we still haven't addressed the problem mentioned above: why are the words of the phrase 'μνηστευθείσης της μητρός . . . Μαρίας' all in the genitive? The answer is that this phrase is our first example of a genitive absolute, an odd Greek construction in which a subject and a modifying participle--both in the genitive case--form a clause which is set off from the rest of the sentence.

More on the genitive absolute on Friday . . . .

Χαίρετε!

The Lord's Prayer

Here's the Lord's Prayer in Greek, together with a more-or-less word for word translation. To hear the prayer read using a modern Greek pronunciation, click on the title of this post. You should be directed to a page on box.net, where you can click on a file named 'Lord's Prayer.wma'. Click on that, then click 'open', and you should be able to hear the reading.

My apologies if this does not work as I hope. I am just now learning to add audio to the blog.

Πάτερ ημών, ο εν τοις Ουρανοίς,
Father of us, who [is] in the Heavens

αγιασθήτω το όνομά Σου,
be holy the name of You

ελθέτω η βασιλεία Σου,
let come the kingdom of You

γενηθήτω το θέλημά Σου,
be accomplished the will of You

ως εν Ουρανώ και επί της γης.
as in Heaven also on the earth.

Τον άρτον ημών τον επιούσιον
The bread ours for the coming day

δος ημίν σήμερον,
give to us today,

και άφες ημίν τα οφειλήματα ημών,
and forgive to us the trespasses ours

ως και ημείς αφίεμεν τοις οφειλέταις ημών.
as even we forgive the debtors ours

Και μη εισενέγκης ημάς εις πειρασμόν,
And do not lead us to temptation

αλλά ρύσαι ημάς από του πονηρού.
but deliver/save us from the evil one.

Matthew 1:18

We start with:

Του δε Ιησού Χριστού η γένεσις ούτως ην.

Of the and/_ Jesus Messiah the birth thus was.

With the English word order mimicking the Greek, the meaning is a bit obscure. We move the 'δε' to the beginning of the phrase, as usual:

And of the Jesus Messiah the birth thus was.

Also note that 'του' ('the'), 'Ιησού', and 'Χριστού' all belong together; they are all genitive, singular, masculine, and refer to Jesus: of the Jesus Messiah. If we are reading this phrase word by word, without looking for the sense of the whole, this is confusing; why genitive? why 'of'? But that becomes clear shortly. In the meantime, English does not generally use 'the' before proper names, so we can translate these three words as:

of Jesus Christ, or (putting the 'the' back in, in a different place):
of Jesus the Messiah

Remember that the word 'of' must be included here. There is no separate word meaning 'of' in the Greek, but the possessive meaning is inherent in the ending of the pronoun and noun.

ο Ιησούς . . . . . (the) Jesus (nominative form)
του Ιησού . . . . . of (the) Jesus (genitive)
τῳ Ιησού . . . . . . to/for (the) Jesus (dative)
τον Ιησούν . . . . (the) Jesus (accusative)

In this case the 'ς' of the nominative case is dropped in the genitive and dative case, and changes to a 'ν' in the accusative.

The next two words form the subject of the phrase: 'η γένεσις'. In Matthew 1:1, this word is often translated 'genealogy'; here, it can be translated 'birth'.

So, the subject of the phrase is 'the birth' (of Jesus the Messiah).

The word 'ούτως' means 'thus', 'so', 'in this manner'.

And finally, the verb: 'ην'. This form is the imperfect indicative, third person singular of the Greek verb 'ειμί' ('I am'). It means, in other words, 'was'. So we have:

And the birth of Jesus the Messiah was thus-- (implying an explanation to follow).

The explanation begins in the next part of the verse, which we will look in a few days.

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:17; a few final words

There are only two words left that we haven't seen before:

πάσαι and δεκατέσσαρες

The first word - πάσαι - is an adjective meaning, generally, 'every' or 'all'. (Don't forget to check Matthew 1:17 on www.greekbiblestudy.org for all forms of this adjective.)
The adjective's exact meaning depends on context, and particularly whether or not the modified noun is accompanied by the definite article. For example:

1) When the noun is not accompanied by an article, the meaning is 'every', 'all', 'each':

πας άνθρωπος
each/every person

πάσα πόλις
each/every city

πάσαι πόλεις
all cities

2) When a singular noun is accompanied by an article, the meaning is more 'the whole of':

πάσα η πόλις
all the city (the whole city)

3) But when a plural noun is accompanied by an article, as it is in Matthew 1:17 ('πάσαι αι γενεαί') the meaning is 'all', as in 'all of a group'.

Thus 'πάσαι αι γενεαί' simply means all the generations taken together as a group.

The second word, δεκατέσσαρες, is the word 'fourteen': it is a combination of the Greek word for ten ('δέκα') and the Greek word for four ('τέσσαρες').

So - all the generations from Abraham to David - taken together - are fourteen; but where is the verb? In fact, there is no verb at all in this verse. The Greek 'I am' or 'to be' verb ('ειμί' - we haven't seen it yet) is understand from the context and must be added in an English translation; in classical and koine Greek it is common for this verb to be left out when its meaning can be assumed.

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:17

Πάσαι ούν αι γενεαί από Αβραάμ έως Δαυίδ γενεαί δεκατέσσαρες,
και από Δαυίδ έως της μετοικεσίας Βαβυλώνος γενεαί δεκατέσσαρες,
και από της μετοικεσίας Βαβυλώνος έως του Χριστού γενεαί δεκατέσσαρες.

All therefore the generations from Abraham until David generations fourteen,
and from David until the carrying away of Babylon generations fourteen,
and from the carrying away of Babylon until the Messiah generations fourteen.

Let’s start with a preposition and an adverb. The word ‘από’ is a preposition; in this case, one which is always followed by the genitive. The reason you don’t see a genitive form of ‘Αβραάμ’ or ‘Δαυίδ’ is because these names are indeclinable; they are spelled the same regardless of case. However you do see the genitive in the final instance:

από της μετοικεσίας
from (the time of) the carrying away

‘Από’ has a general sense involving separation; it can be translated ‘out of’ or ‘from’ or ‘away from’.

The adverb is ‘έως’, which here means ‘until (the time of)’. The difference between a preposition and an adverb is (at least, to me) a subtle one, and in any case does not seem to produce any issues in translation.

The word ‘ούν’ is a postpositive conjection; like ‘δε’, it cannot stand as the first word in its phrase. It can be translated as ‘so’, or ‘therefore’.

A key word in this verse is the noun ‘γενεά’, meaning ‘generation’. This noun is feminine, and is declined as follows:

η γενεά . . . . . . . . . the generation (nominative singular)
της γενεάς . . . . . . .of the generation (genitive singular)
τῃ γενεᾴ . . . . . . . . .to/for the generation (dative singular)
την γενεάν . . . . . . the generation (accusative singular)

αι γενεαί . . . . . . . . the generations (nominative plural)
των γενεών . . . . . . of the generations (genitive plural)
ταις γενεαίς . . . . . . to/for the generations (dative plural)
τας γενεάς . . . . . . . the generations (accusative plural)

In Matthew 1:17 we see this noun four times in the nominative plural: once with the definite article (‘αι γενεαί’) and three times without (‘γενεαί’).

Incidentally, the on-line New Testament at www.greekbiblestudy.com has some extremely useful features. Not only are the Greek words color-coded (blue for nouns, red for verbs, etc.) but if you mouse over a word you get its definition, and parsing, and all the forms in which this word is found in the New Testament (click on ‘Show NT Forms’). For ‘γενεά’, for example, you will get all the forms I’ve just listed above.

More on this verse tomorrow. Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:16, continued

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

Jacob fathered the Joseph the husband of Mary,
from whom was born Jesus the one called Messiah

We've already seen that 'Jesus' ('Ιησούς') is the subject of the last phrase. The word 'ο' is the masculine singular nominative definite article, here being used somewhat as a pronoun:

Jesus, the one called
Jesus, he who is called

The next word, 'λεγὀμενος', is our first example of a participle, a part of speech which is very important in Greek. In the sentence

'The woman walking down the street is my mother.'

the word 'walking' is a participle. It is verb-like, in that it refers to an action; but also adjective-like, in that it modifies a noun ('woman'). Participles can be thought of, then, as verbal adjectives. They agree with the noun they modify in number, gender, and case.

Consider the following three examples:

Ο απόστολος λεγόμενος Πέτρος εστίν πιστός.
The apostle called Peter is faithful.

H γυνή λεγομένη Σοφία εστίν πιστή.
Τhe woman called Sofia is faithful.

Βλέπω τον απόστολον λεγόμενον Πέτρον.
I see the apostle called Peter.

In the first example, the participle 'λεγόμενος' is in its masculine, singular, nominative form, to agree with 'ο απόστολος', which is also masculine, singular, and nominative.

In the second example, the participle, while still meaning 'called', changes its form to 'λεγομένη', indicating that the word it modifies ('γυνή', 'woman') is feminine, singular, and nominative.

In the third example, the participle is in the masculine, singular, accusative form, because in this sentence 'τον απόστολον', which the participle modifies, is the direct object as opposed to the subject of the sentence.


A final word about the word 'Χριστός'. English speakers tend to read this word as 'Christ' and let it go at that. 'Christ' has become a standard epithet for Jesus - just another name. A koine Greek dictionary, however, will tell you that 'Χριστός' is the equivalent of the Hebrew word which we read as 'Messiah.' In addition, the Greek word is related to the verb 'χρίω', which means 'to annoint (with scented oil)'. Thus, Χρίστος can also be thought of as having the meaning 'the anointed one.'

I've no doubt much more has been written on this single word, and would welcome additional enlightenment from any reader.

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!

Matthew 1:12-13

12 Μετἀ δε την μετοικεσίαν Βαβυλώνος Ιεχονίας εγέννησεν τον Σαλαθιήλ,
Σαλαθιήλ, δε εγέννησεν τον Ζοροβαβέλ,

13 Ζοροβαβέλ δε εγέννησεν τον Αβιούδ,
Αβιούδ δε εγέννησεν τον Ελιακίμ,
Ελιακίμ δε εγέννησεν τον Αζώρ

The very first word - μετά - is another preposition. Like a number of prepositions, it can be followed by a different noun case, with resulting variations in meaning.

When μετἀ is followed by a noun in the genitive case, it means something more like 'with, among, in company with'.

μετά των αγγέλων
with the angels

But when μετά is followed by a noun in the accusative, as it is here, it means something like 'after', or 'behind'. So we have a temporal meaning:

μετά δε την μετοικεσία Βαβυλώνος
and after the carrying-away of Babylon

(I've translated 'δε' as 'and', and changed its position to be first in the phrase.)

Then we return to the straightforward listing of begats, although--once again--some of the names are difficult:

Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel,
Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud,
Abiud fathered Eliakim,
Eliakim fathered Azor

In this translation, I've omitted translated the 'δε' in each line, and omitted the definite article before names (i.e., 'Shealtiel' and not 'the Shealtiel').

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:11

In verse 11 we come to the end of the second group of 'begats':

Ιωσίας δε εγέννησεν τον Ιεχονίαν και τους αδελφούς αυτού
επί της μετοικεσίας Βαβυλώνος.

Word-for-word this reads:

Josiah and/_ fathered the Jechoniah and the brothers of him
upon (at the time of) the carrying off of Babylon.

We've seen the word 'αδελφούς' before (v. 2): it means 'brothers', in the accusative case. The word 'αυτού' after 'αδελφούς' also means the same as it did in verse 2: it is a genitive, possessive form of a pronoun, meaning 'of him', i.e., 'of Jechoniah.'

The word 'μετοικεσίας' is new; the only meaning given in my Greek New Testament (the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece) is 'carrying off', but it has also been translated as 'deportation'. (from 'μετα' with the sense of change, and 'οίκος', house). This word is in the genitive case, although here the reason is not to denote possession, but because it follows the preposition 'επί' ('on, upon, at the time off').

Actually, επί has a slew of meanings, which you can see in any dictionary of koine Greek. Some prepositions can only be followed by nouns in one case (e.g., 'εκ', 'out of', can only be followed by the genitive, whereas 'εις', 'in, into', can only be followed by the accusative).

But 'επί' can be followed by the genitive, dative, or accusative. In this case, being followed by the genitive, the meaning will be something like 'upon', or 'at the time of'. According to Zerwick and Grosvenor's A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament (see Amazon gadget on this blog) this is the only instance in the New Testament where επί has a temporal use (that is, a use relating to time as opposed to position).

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:7-10

The next verses continue with the descendants of King David:

7 Σολομών δε εγέννησεν τον Ροβοάμ,
Ροβοάμ δε εγέννησεν τον Αβιά,
Αβιά δε εγέννησεν τον Ασάφ,

8 Ασάφ δε εγέννησεν τον Ιωσαφάτ,
Ιωσαφάτ δε εγέννησεν τον Ιωράμ,
Ιωράμ δε εγέννησεν τον Οζίαν,

9 Οζίας δε εγέννησεν τον Ιωαθάμ,
Ιωαθάμ δε εγέννησεν τον Αχάζ,
Αχάζ δε εγέννησεν τον Εζεκίαν,

10 Εζεκίας δε εγέννησεν τον Μανασσή,
Μανασσής δε εγέννησεν τον Αμώς,
Αμώς δε εγέννησεν τον Ιωσίαν

If we omit the postpositive 'δε' in each phrase, and also omit the definite article before the second individual in each phrase (Solomon fathered the Rehoboam) we have:

7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam,
Rehoboam fathered Abijah,
Abijah fathered Asaph,

8 Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat fathered Joram,
Joram fathered Uzziah,

9 Uzziah fathered Jotham,
Jotham fathered Ahaz,
Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh,
Manasseh fathered Amos,
Amos fathered Josiah


A couple notes on the names. (1) Most of these names are not, of course, typical Greek names. This presents a problem in transliteration: how to represent the sound of a non-Greek name using the Greek alphabet?

(2) Not all the names are inflected for case; in fact, most of them are not. For example, in the two phrases

Solomon fathered Rehoboam,
Rehoboam fathered Abijah

Rehoboam appears first as the object of a verb, and the second time as its subject. In Greek, a proper name is inflected for case like any other noun, and we would normally expect a difference in spelling between the first instance of Rehoboam (which would be in the accusative case) and the second (in the nominative case).

But there is no difference here, presumably because it is a foreign name (foreign to Greek, that is).

On the other hand, in the phrases

Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
Hezekiah fathered Manasseh

Hezekiah does show inflection: Εζεκίαν in the first instance (accusative case) and Εζεκίας in the second (nominative case).

Why are some names inflected and others not? I'm not sure, other than to say that a name ending in sigma (ς) lends itself easily to a common pattern of noun inflection in Greek, with a standard change to 'ν' in the accusative. Perhaps other names (such as Ροβοάμ, 'Rehoboam') did not fit as easily into a pattern of declension.

I will continue researching this point, and welcome any comments from readers.

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:6, continued

And the rest of the verse . . .

Δαυίδ δε εγέννησεν τον Σολομώνα εκ της του Ουρίου

Here, we have an entire story in a few short words, and a grammatical variation. Word-for-word, this part of the verse reads:

David and/_ fathered the Solomon out of her (out of the (female) one) of the Uriah.

The word 'της' is the genitive form of the feminine, singular definite article (e.g., της Μαρίας - of the Maria), but here it is used on its own, somewhat as a pronoun, without directly naming the woman it refers to. She is the one 'of Uriah,' i.e., Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. (For the story itself, see 2 Samuel, chapter 11).

In translation, the Jerusalem Bible adds a bit of explanation: 'David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife.'

The NRVS reads: 'And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah'.

Matthew 1:6

Now we come to the end of the first series of begats, which began with Abraham, and ends with King David:

Ιεσσαί δε εγέννησεν τον Δαυίδ τον βασιλέα.

Jesse and/_ fathered the David the king.

Note that in modern Greek pronounciation, 'Δαυίδ' is pronounced thav-EETH. The 'αυ' vowel combination is pronounced 'av' (as in avant garde), and so we get the English 'v' sound in the middle of the word. The 'th' sounds are confusing, however, because there is no simple way to distinguish in typescript between the two versions of the 'th' sound in English: 'though' vs. 'thought'. The Greek delta ('δ') is pronounced the first way, as in 'though'.

The New King James Version translates this as 'and Jesse begot David the king.' Both the NIV and the NRSV read 'and Jesse the father of King David.'

The word 'βασιλέα' means 'king.' It is in the accusative case, because King David is the object of the verb εγέννησεν. The dictionary (nominative) form of this word is ο βασιλέυς ('the king').

One of the most useful ways of learning Greek vocabulary is to learn words in cognate groups; that is, to learn a group of words that are related to each other. For example, in the case of βασιλεύς we also have:

βασιλεύω - the verb meaning 'to rule, be king, become king'
η βασιλεία - a noun meaning 'kingdom, reign, royal power'
η βασίλισσα - the noun meaning 'queen'
βασίλειος - an adjective meaning 'royal'
βασιλικός - another adjective, also meaning 'royal'

This isn't the end of the verse; we will continue on tomorrow with the descendants of King David.

Matthew 1:5

Σαλμών δε εγέννησεν τον Βόες εκ της Ραχάβ,

Βόες δε εγέννησεν τον Ιωβήδ εκ της Ρουθ,

Ιωβήδ δε εγέννησεν τον Ιεσσαί


Word-for-word this verse reads


Salmon and/_ fathered the Boaz out of the Rahab,

Boaz and/_ fathered the Obed out of the Ruth,

Obed and/_ fathered the Jesse

Two more women are mentioned - Rahab and Ruth. "Out of" sounds odd to the modern reader; this prepositional phrase is variously translated. For example, the NIV (New International Version) begins:

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab

The NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) reads:

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab.

The Orthodox Study Bible (the New Testament of this Bible is based on the New King James Version) reads:

Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab.

What is an interlinear Bible?

An interlinear Bible contains the text of the bible in one language with a word-for-word translation in another language between each line.

Generally, one of the languages is the original Hebrew (for the Old Testament) or Greek (for the New Testament), with the second language being a modern one (e.g., English).
For example, see this page of Matthew in an on-line interlinear New Testament:

http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/mat1.pdf

This particular interlinear uses all capital letters for the original Greek, and also uses the 'C' form for the letter sigma, i.e. βίβλος becomes ΒΙΒΛΟC.

A short perusal of interlinear texts will give you a good idea of how much work needs to be done to make a translation. It is - in my opinion - impossible to make a translation of any text which preserves both the exact word order and reasonable intelligibility.

It would be possible, of course, to generate an interlinear Bible for any two languages; whether this is ever done for contemporary languages (e.g., English and and Japanese) I do not know.

Matthew 1:4, and a few words about the aorist tense

Αράμ δε εγέννησεν τον Αμιναδάβ

Αμιναδάβ δε εγέννησεν τον Ναασσών

Ναασσών δε εγέννησεν τον Σαλμών


Aram and/_ fathered the Amminadab

Amminadab and/_ fathered the Nahshon

Nahshon and/_ fathered the Salmon

The word 'εγέννησεν', as mentioned before, is a verb meaning 'become the parent of' or 'father' (as a verb) or 'beget' or (in reference to a woman) 'bear'. In these verses, this verb is in the aorist tense. Although Greek verb tenses do not correspond exactly to English verb tenses, for now we can translate this as a simple past:

he fathered/ he begat/ he became the father of


Greek verbs are inflected for person. So, for example, we would have the following possible forms:

εγέννησα - I fathered/bore
εγέννησας - you (singular) fathered/bore
εγέννησεν - he fathered/she bore
εγεννήσαμε - we fathered/bore
εγεννήσατε - you (plural) fathered/bore
εγέννησαν - they fathered/bore


All these forms are in the aorist tense. Note that the ending of the verb changes according to the subject (I, you, he, she, etc.) Note also that the verb will be translated differently according to the subject ('fathered' if the subject of the phrase is male; 'bore' if the subject is female).

Matthew 1:3

Ιούδας δε εγέννησεν τον Φάρες και τον Ζάρα εκ της Θαμάρ

Literally, this reads

Judah and/_ fathered the Perez and the Zerah out of the Tamar

Once again, the 'δε' is post-positive, so should be moved to the beginning of the phrase. But the new element here is the final part of the phrase:

εκ της Θαμάρ

Tamar is a woman. We know this because the definite article ('the') preceding her name is in the female, genitive form: 'της' instead of 'του' for a male. The word 'Θαμάρ' would be in the genitive, too, but in this particular case (as for many proper names) the special genitive case ending is not apparent.

But why the genitive case in the first place? The word 'εκ', immediately preceding, is the reason. This small word is a preposition (in English, words like 'in', 'on', 'from', etc.) and the rules of koine Greek grammar say that the noun that follows this particular preposition must be in the genitive case.

What does 'εκ' mean? Generally speaking, it means 'out of'. So 'εκ της Θαμάρ' means, word-for-word, 'out of the Tamar'. 'Out of' is a rather old-fashioned way of saying that Tamar was the mother of these two sons (Perez and Zerah) of Judah. Judah fathered them 'out of' Tamar.


Continuing on, we have

Φάρες δε εγέννησεν τον Εσρώμ,
Εσρώμ δε εγέννησεν τον Αράμ.

Perez and/_ fathered the Hezron
Hezron and/_ fathered the Aram.

This part of the verse presents no new difficulties, outside of the unusual (for us) names. By now you should be able to move the 'δε' to the beginning of the phrase, and remove 'the' before proper names.

And Perez fathered Hezron
and Hezron fathered Aram.

Note that I have used standard English transliterations for proper names, some of which don't make exact sense according to the sound of the letters. Although mostly standardized, you will find some variations in different English translations: 'Ram' instead of 'Aram', for example.

The next verse: Matthew 1: 2

This verse begins the 'begats': that is, the verses reviewing the lineage of Jesus from Abraham to "Joseph, the husband of Mary."

The verses have a standard form, expressed in English something like "Abraham was the father of Isaac":

Αβραάμ εγέννησεν τον Ισαάκ

The Greek noun for 'father,' however, does not appear. Instead the word-for-word translation would be:

Abraham became-the-parent-of ('begat' or 'fathered') the Isaac.

'Became-the-parent-of' is a translation of the verb 'εγέννησεν' (eh-YEH-nee-sen). The definite article 'τον' (i.e., 'the') is used before Isaac. This usage, which sounds so strange in English, is relatively common in koine Greek, and obligatory in modern Greek.

Continuing on we have:

Ισαάκ δε εγέννησεν τον Ιακώβ

Isaac and/_ fathered the Jacob

The Greek word 'δε' has no exact equivalent in English. It expresses a conjunction of phrases, and can be variously translated as 'and' or 'but' -- or 'δε' can even be left out entirely. If you check a few English translations of this verse you will see the various ways that 'δε' has been dealt with.

The word 'δε' is called a postpositive conjunction, which means that it cannot be the first word in a phrase.

So a better translation in English would be

And Isaac fathered Jacob

with the 'and' moved to the beginning of the phrase.


Continuing on, we have:

Ιακώβ δε εγέννησεν τον Ιούδαν και τους αδελφούς αυτού.

Jacob and/_ fathered the Judah and the brothers of him.

Several important, and common, words are introduced here. 'Και' is the usual conjunction for 'and', although it can have other meanings depending on context. The word 'αυτού' means 'of him', and is an example of a pronoun. It is in the genitive case.

Ο αδελφός means 'the brother' (Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love). Here we see the word in the plural, accusative form: 'τους αδελφούς' ('the brothers', as the direct object of the verb εγέννησεν).

Note that not only does the noun itself change form depending on its usage (αδελφός/αδελφούς) but also the definite article (ο/τους). Both 'ο' and 'τους' mean 'the'.

The 'begat' verses offer a good opportunity to practice pronounciation. Again, you are encouraged to read the verses aloud before working out their meaning.

Noun cases

There are five noun cases in koine Greek: the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative cases.

1) The nominative case: The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. In the sentence

The dog sees the cat.

'dog' or 'the dog' is the subject of the sentence, and in Greek it would be in the nominative.

2) The accusative case: The accusative case is used for - among other things - the direct object of a sentence. In the sentence above, 'the cat' is the direct object, the object which the dogs sees. In Greek it would be in the accusative.

3) The genitive case: This case has a variety of uses, but one basic use is to indicate possession. In the sentence

The dog ate the cat's food.

'cat's' or 'the cat's' is in the genitive case.

4) The dative case: The dative case (which is no longer used in modern Greek) also has a number of uses. It is used after some prepositions, and it also indicates the indirect object. In the sentence

Paul sent a letter to the Corinthians.

'Corinthians' or 'the Corinthians' would be expressed using the dative.

5) The vocative case: This case is used for direct address. In the sentence

Fido, leave the cat's food alone.

Fido would be in the vocative case.

The first verse

The first verse of Matthew reads, in Greek:

Βίβλος γενέσεως Ίησού Χριστού
υιού Δαυίδ
υιού Αβραάμ.

In English, word for word:

Book of lineage of Jesus Christ
of son David
of son Abraham.

Clearly, a word-for-word translation will often cause some confusion, and in many cases is hardly even possible.

In this verse, the first word is 'βίβλος,' which is pronounced, using modern Greek pronounciation, 'VEE-vloes' (The 'oe' of the second syllable indicates a long 'o' sound, as in 'hope'.)

Βίβλος means, generally, 'a book.' Greek does not always use a separate word for a/an.

The word 'γενέσεως' ('yeh-NEH-seh-oes') causes a bit more difficulty, since it is not the dictionary form of this word, which means 'lineage,' or 'genealogy,' or 'birth.' The dictionary form is 'γένεσις.'

The form used here - γενέσεως - indicates that this word is in the genitive case, and in this instance should be translated by adding the word 'of.'

A book of lineage

At this point, English translations will typically add 'the', to make the verse clearer in English:

A book of the lineage


The next two words in the verse are Ἰησού Χριστού ('Ee-ee-SOU Hrees-TOU') - 'Jesus Christ.' These two words are also in the genitive case, again indicating that the word 'of' should be added.

A book of the lineage of Jesus Christ

This is followed by two phrases (υιού Δαυίδ and υιού Αβραάμ) which further describe Jesus - as the son (υιού) of David (Δαυίδ) and the son (υιού) of Abraham (Αβραάμ).

The word for son - υιού - is also in the genitive case here; it is pronounced, approximately, 'ee-YOU'.

Δαυίδ is pronounced - be careful here - 'thah-VEED'. Note that the first letter - the delta - is not pronounced like an English 'd', but like the soft 'th' sound in 'that.'

Αβραάμ is pronounced 'Ah-vra-AHM'.


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Note: I am using a simplified (monotonic) accent system throughout this blog for typewritten Greek.

A note on the 'original' Greek of the New Testament

The earliest known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament are written in capital letters without accent marks, and with little punctuation or even spaces between words (ANACCOUNTOFTHE GENEALOGYOFJESUSTHEMESSIAH).

Punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, verse and chapter markings were all added later to help the reader.

To see an example of an uncial manuscript (a manuscript written in all capital letters) try this Wikipedia article on the Codex Sinaiticus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus : click on the photograph of 'Uncial 01'.

For additional discussion, and references to other articles and scholarly studies of Bible manuscripts, see the Wikipedia article "Biblical Manuscripts."

Case endings

Greek nouns - both in modern Greek, in classical Greek, and in koine (Biblical) Greek - are declined. That is, they have different endings according to their use in a sentence. English nouns are not declined to nearly this same degree. For example, in the two sentences

"John sees the dog." and

"The dog sees John."

neither the word 'John' nor the word 'dog' changes, even though in the first sentence John is the subject of the sentence - the one doing the seeing - and in the second sentence the dog is the subject.

In Greek, the subject of a sentence is in the nominative case, and the object (in this case, the object being seen) is in the accusative case.

Ο Γιάννης sees τον σκύλο. (John sees the dog.)

Ο σκύλος sees τον Γιάννη. (The dog sees John.)

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Vocabulary

ο Γιάννης - John, nominative case (literally, 'the John' - he is equally unique as 'the dog.')

τον Γιάννη - John, accusative case

ο σκύλος - the dog, nominative case

τον σκύλο - the dog, accusative case

Note that in the examples above, the word for 'dog' is in modern Greek.

According to Matthew

The title of the first book of the New Testament - in Greek - is:

Κατά Μαθθαίον

The first word - κατά - means 'according to' in this context. It is pronounced "kah-TAH", with the accent on the second syllable. Any Greek word of more than one syllable will indicate, with an accent mark, which syllable is emphasized.

The second word - Μαθθαίον - means 'Matthew.' It is pronounced "Mah-THEH-on," and the "th" sounds like the first sound in the word 'thought.' This "th" sound comes from the two thetas (θθ) in the middle of the word.

English speakers are often confused by the last letter in Μαθθαίον. It looks like an English 'v', but it is, rather, the Greek equivalent to our "n".

Μαθθαίον is not the dictionary form for Matthew. The dictionary form is Μαθθαίος. The ending of the word changes from an 'ς' to a 'ν' for reasons of grammar and inflection that will be explained in a later post.

How to pronounce Greek

This is a subject in itself. In many koine Greek classes, the pronounciation taught is the somewhat artificial 'Erasmian' pronounciation, named after the scholar Erasmus, who was working in the 1500s. For an interesting discussion of the pronounciation problem, see the link below, at the Institute for Biblical Studies website:

http://www.biblicalgreek.org/links/pronunciation.php

So the question becomes not only 'how do I pronounce koine Greek?' but also 'which pronounciation system do I use?'

In the Greek Orthodox church, of which I am a member, the answer is clear: we pronounce koine Greek as if it was modern Greek. This method has the advantage of corrresponding to the natural pronounciation of a living language.

Several websites - with sound files - which will review modern Greek pronounciation are listed below. The first is the Filoglossia site: the guide to Greek letters is simple and straightforward. The last two sites are from a series of webpages about the Greek language created by the (apparently) somewhat eccentric Harry Foundalis. They are very detailed.

http://www.xanthi.ilsp.gr/filog/ch1/alphabet/alphabet.asp

http://www.foundalis.com/lan/grkalpha.htm

http://www.foundalis.com/lan/grphdetl.htm


But whatever method you choose to pronounce koine Greek, you should pronounce it out loud as you study. Languages are meant to be spoken and not only read. You will find that hearing the words of the passages as you read them will add greatly to your ease of understanding.

If you can't read the Greek letters

If you are having difficulty reading the Greek letters, try this in Internet Explorer:

1) Pull down the 'view' menu.

2) Click on 'encoding'

3) Click on 'more'

4) Chose 'Greek (Windows)' or 'Greek (ISO)'

The purpose of this weblog . . .

The purpose of this weblog is to assist readers in learning koine (New Testament) Greek. We will be starting at the beginning of the New Testament (Matthew 1:1) and working through to the end. Vocabulary and grammar will be added bit by bit, as needed.