Matthew 1:20, continued

Ταύτα δε αυτού ενθυμηθέντος
ιδού άγγελος κυρίου
κατ' όναρ εφάνη αυτῴ
λέγων,
Ιωσήφ υιός Δαυίδ,
μη φοβηθῄς παραλαβείν Μαρίαμ την γυναίκα σου,
το γαρ εν αυτῄ
γεννηθέν εκ πνεύματός εστιν αγίου

Last time we looked at the first three lines; Joseph had resolved to send Mary away, but after that an angel had appeared to him in a dream.

The next word is grammatically important - λέγων

This word is a present participle of the verb λέγω (I say). In the participle form, here, it can be translated 'saying'. It is the masculine nominative singular form of the present participle, meaning that it modifies the word 'άγγελος', the angel. In other words, the angel is saying something (to Joseph) (in a dream).

The angel first addresses Joseph: Ιωσήφ υιός Δαυίδ ("Joseph, son of David")

and then tells him to do something; or in this case, not to do something:

μη φοβηθῄς
do not be afraid

The word 'μη' is the negating part of this phrase; the part we translate as 'not.' The second word, 'φοβηθῄς', is a subjunctive form of the aorist tense of the verb 'φοβέω', meaning 'to fear'. The subjunctive here stands in for an imperative form, in other words, a command to not be afraid. But there is an addition or a complement to the meaning of this verb in this instance:

μη φοβηθῄς
do not be afraid

παραλαβείν Μαρίαμ την γυναίκα σου,
to take Mary the wife of you
(to take Mary as your wife)

The word 'παραλαβείν' is an infinitive, and is used here much as we would use the infinitive in English.

Why should Joseph not be afraid to take Mary as his wife? The rest of the verse explains:

το γαρ εν αυτῄ
that for in her

The word 'γαρ' is another postpositive, like 'δε'; even though it comes second in the Greek phrase, in the English translation is should come first: for that in her

γεννηθέν εκ πνεύματός εστιν αγίου was conceived out of a spirit is holy (was conceived of the holy spirit)

Note that this is traditionally translated 'out of the holy spirit', although there is no word for 'the' in the Greek.

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:20

Ταύτα δε αυτού ενθυμηθέντος
ιδού άγγελος κυρίου
κατ' όναρ εφάνη αυτῴ
λέγων,
Ιωσήφ υιός Δαυίδ,
μη φοβηθῄς παραλαβείν Μαρίαμ την γυναίκα σου,
το γαρ εν αυτῄ
γεννηθέν εκ πνεύματός εστιν αγίου

Now here's a verse to sink your teeth into. Let's start with a mostly word-for-word translation of the first three lines above:

Ταύτα δε αυτού ενθυμηθέντος
these things and/but/_ he considered

ιδού άγγελος κυρίου
look angel of lord

κατ' όναρ εφάνη αυτῴ
in a dream appeared to him

Once we've remembered to move 'δε' to the first position, i.e.

And/but these things he considered

the first line makes more sense. This line will also make more sense when we recognize that it is another example of a genitive absolute, that is, a noun or pronoun (here, αυτόυ, 'he') plus an accompanying participle(ενθυμηθέντος), both in the genitive.

The participle is an aorist form of the deponent verb 'ενθυμέομαι', meaning something like 'deliberate, consider, ponder'. Because it is in the aorist, it gives the sense that the deliberating, considering, or pondering has been completed, so we could add a word in the English translation to point to that sense, e.g.:

And after he pondered these things

or

And when he had considered these things

Who had pondered?: 'αυτού', 'he', i.e., Joseph. Remember that although we normally place the subject of a verb in the nominative case, this is a genitive absolute, and the word 'he' ('αυτού) is in the genitive. Do not translate it 'of him'.

So after Joseph had pondered these things (i.e., his betrothed Mary had been found to be pregnant, and he had resolved to send her away quietly) what happened next?

ιδού άγγελος κυρίου
look angel of lord in a dream

κατ' όναρ εφάνη αυτῴ
in a dream appeared to him

The word 'ιδού' appears many times (200) in the New Testament, and is often translated 'behold', although in some versions (the New Revised Standard and the New International, for example) it is left untranslated. For more information about this word, left-click on it at greekbiblestudy.org.

An angel of the lord ('άγγελος κυρίου') is the subject here, and 'εφάνη' ('appeared') is the verb. Note that we have to add the word 'the' to make this phrase idiomatic English: i.e., 'an angel of the lord', not 'an angel of lord'.

So the angel appeared 'to him' (αυτῴ - the third person, singular, masculine pronoun in the dative) -- i.e., appeared to Joseph.

Only one thing is left: An angel of the lord appeared to Joseph - how? The phrase 'κατ' όναρ' means 'in a dream.'

So an angel of the lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Next time we will continued with the rest of the verse.

Χαίρετε!

Some additional information on modern Greek pronunciation: consonants

1. β is pronounced as a 'v'.

2. δ is pronounced as the ‘th’ in ‘this’, as opposed to θ, which is pronounced as the ‘th’ in ‘think’.

3. The sounds ‘b’ and ‘d’ and ‘g’: these sounds are produced by the combinations ‘μπ’ and ‘ντ’ and ‘γκ’ or ‘γγ’. However, there are some variations in the way those combinations are pronounced.

a. Generally, you get the ‘dry’ sound (as above) at the beginning of a word.e.g., μπροστά, ντόπιος, γκρεμός. These words are all from modern Greek: there are no words in the New Testament that begin with any of those combinations.

b. Generally, these combinations are nasalized in the middle of a word:

μπ becomes ‘mb’ .............. το συμπόσιον (group (eating together))
ντ becomes ‘nd’.............. η εντολή (commandment)
γκ and γγ become ‘ng’................έγκυος (pregnant), ο άγγελος (angel, messenger)c.

There are some exceptions, which I suspect are more relevant to modern Greek. When there is repetition, for example, the ‘dry’ sound may be retained in the middle of the word: μπαμπάς (babas) (daddy).

4. Changes at word boundaries following a word ending in ‘ν’. These sound changes arise frequently because of the frequent use of the definite articles την, τον and των.

When one word ends in ‘ν’ and is followed by a word beginning with ‘π’, the combination is pronounced ‘mb’: την παρουσία (presence, coming, arrival)

When one words ends in ‘ν’ and is followed by a word beginning with ‘τ’, the combination is pronounced ‘nd’: την τέχνη (skill, craft)

When one word ends in ‘ν’ and is followed by a word beginning with ‘κ’, the combination is pronounced ‘ng’: τον κύριος.

5. The letter σ is pronounced like a ‘z’ in front of the consonants β, γ, δ, μ, ν and ρ. Otherwise, it is pronounced as a plain ‘s’.

E.g.: κόσμος, Ισραήλ vs. σκοτία (darkness, gloom), σάββατον

6. Palatalization. Τhis refers to the change in the way that the velar consonants κ, γ and χ are pronounced when they are followed by an ‘i’ (ι, η, υ, ει, οι) or an ‘e’ (αι, ε) sound.‘Velar’ means that the consonant is pronounced with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate. But when κ, γ and χ are followed by an ‘i’ or ‘e’ sound, the consonant becomes ‘palatal’ instead; that is, the middle of the tongue touches the hard palate.

For example, the velar ‘γ’ in γάλα (milk: modern Greek) becomes the palatal ‘γ’ in η γη (earth).This phenomenon also occurs with κ and χ: it’s just not as obvious to our (native English speaking) ears. For example, the χ in έχω is pronounced slightly differently than the χ in έχεις, and the κ in κατά is pronounced slightly differently than the κ in κύριος.

These are by no means the only rules/details/exceptions to Greek pronunciation, but they are some of the major ones. Χαίρετε!

Some additional information on modern Greek pronunciation: vowels

VOWELS

There are five basic vowel sounds:
α
ε, αι
η, ι, υ, ει, οι
ο, ω
ου

1. α is pronounced as the 'a' in father

2. αι and ε are pronounced the same: similar to the ‘e’ in pet, but with lips pulled slightly more to the side.

3. η, ι, υ, ει, and οι (and υι, which is less common) are pronounced the same: similar to the ‘ee’ in meet, but shorter. Or, between ‘bit’ and ‘beat’.

4. ο and ω are pronounced the same: somewhat like ‘bought’ but with lips more closed and rounded. Other guides give a sound closer to the English long ‘o’, probably for convenience.

5. ου is pronounced like the 'oo' in 'loot', or somewhat between 'put' and 'loot'.

6. The combinations 'αυ' is pronounced 'av' or 'af', depending on the following letter/sound. If the following sound is voiceless (κ, π, τ, χ, φ, θ, σ, ξ, ψ), αυ is pronounced 'af:

e.g., αυτό is pronounced 'af-TO'

Otherwise, αυ is pronounced 'av':

ε.γ., αύριον is pronounced 'AV-ree-on'

Similarly, the combination 'ευ' is pronounced 'ev' or 'ef', depending on the following letter/sound.

Consonants will be covered in the next blog. Χαίρετε!

The use of the genitive case

The genitive case has a variety of uses, some of which are not easily classified. However, for now we will concentrate on three major uses:

1. The genitive case is used to show possession.

This is similar to English usage, and in translation sometimes - but not always - involves adding the English word 'of'. For example:

βίβλος γενέσεως Ιησούς Χριστού (the underlined words are all in the genitive case)
a book of the generation of Jesus Messiah

and

Ιωσήφ δε ο ανήρ αυτής
Joseph her husband

In the second example we could keep the 'of' and translate: 'Joseph the husband of her', but it would be bad English.

2. The genitive case is used after certain prepositions.

For example, it is used after the prepositions από and εκ:

από της μετοικεσίας Βαβυλώνος
from the deportation to Babylon

εκ πνεύματος αγίου
out of (by) the holy spirit

3. The genitive case is used in the genitive absolute construction.

We have discussed this construction before: see the blogs for Wednesday, October 29 and Friday, October 31, 2008.

Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:19, continued

και μη θέλων αυτήν δειγματίσαι

We ended last time with Joseph being unwilling ('μη θέλων') to do something- to do what? Here the use of the infinitive parallels a similar use in English:

μη θέλων . . . . δειγματίσαι
not willing to expose to disgrace

The word 'δειγματίσαι' is the aorist infinitive of the verb 'δειγματίζω', which can be translated as 'make an example of' or 'expose to disgrace.' Various translations read 'put (her) to shame', or 'disgrace (her)'.

Where is the 'her'? The pronoun 'αυτήν' precedes the infinitive; it is feminine singular accusative, and refers to Mary.

και μη θέλων αυτήν δειγματίσαι

So Joseph was not willing to expose Mary to disgrace. What happens next?

εβουλήθη λάθρα απολύσαι αυτήν.
(he) planned secretly to send away/release her.
(he) secretly planned to send her away.

The form 'εβουλήθη' (which I talked about briefly on Monday) comes from the verb 'βούλομαι', a deponent verb. A deponent verb, broadly speaking, is a verb which has an active meaning, but middle or passive forms. In this case, 'εβουλήθη' is an aorist passive form, but it means 'planned', or 'wished', or (as the KJV says) 'was minded to.'

Bringing us to another use of the infinitive: was minded to - do what?

εβουλήθη . . . απολύσαι αυτήν.
was minded . . . to send away her.

The aorist infinitive 'απολύσαι' is from the verb 'απολύω', meaning 'release', 'dismiss', or 'put/send away'.

The word 'λάθρα' is an adverb meaning 'secretly'. This adverb indicates the manner in which Joseph intended to send her away: in secret. Adverbs do not inflect, making them an easy part of Greek.

Next time we will return to case usage. Χαίρετε!

Matthew 1:19

We will return later to the use of the various noun cases. Now, let us forge ahead with the next verse of Matthew. I have added a more-or-less literal translation in English, followed by a translation that makes sense. Remember that Joseph and Mary have just been betrothed, and Mary has been discovered to be pregnant.

Ιωσήφ δε ο ανήρ αυτής,
Joseph and/but/_ the husband of her
But Joseph her husband

δίκαιος ων
just being
being a just man

και μη θέλων αυτήν δειγματίσαι,
and not wishing her to make an example of
and not wishing to shame her publicly

εβουλήθη λάθρα απολύσαι αυτήν.
planned secretly to send away/release her.
secretly planned to send her away.

The word 'εβουλήθη' in the last phrase is given various definitions, from 'wish' or 'will' to 'have an intention' or 'be disposed.' (Left-click on this word at www.greekbiblestudy.org to see more.) In this case, I think the King James wording, old-fashioned as it is, gives a nice option: 'be minded to'.

Joseph is at the beginning of this verse:

Ιωσήφ δε ο ανήρ αυτής,
Joseph and/but/_ the husband of her
But Joseph her husband

'Ο ανήρ' is the Greek word for both 'husband' and 'man' ('man' as opposed to 'woman', not 'man' as opposed to 'animal'); it has retained this double meaning in modern Greek. Joseph is the husband 'αυτής', 'of her' ('αυτής' is the feminine genitive singular of the personal pronoun).

In the next phrase, we find and adjective ('δίκαιος') and a participle ('ων'). The adjective 'δίκαιος' means 'just' or 'righteous'. The participle is a form of the present participle of 'ειμί'; in other words it is the participle of 'to be' -- 'being.'

Both the adjective and the participle are in the masculine nominative singular form, because they both modify and agree with 'Ιωσήφ'. Here is the declension of the present participle meaning 'being', in the singular only:

........................ Masculine .......... Feminine .......... Neuter
Nominative..............ων.....................ούσα..................ον
Genitive................όντος...................ούσης...............όντος
Dative...................όντι.....................ούσῃ................όντι
Accusative............όντα.....................ούσην................ον

In the next phrase we have another participle, 'θέλων' - 'wishing', which also modifies 'Ιωσήφ' and thus is also in the masculine nominative singular form. Note the '-ων' ending, like the 'ων' of the participle of 'to be'.

και μη θέλων αυτήν δειγματίσαι

The 'μη' before 'θέλων' negates it, i.e., Joseph was 'not willing'.

What was he not willing to do? More next time . . . . Χαίρετε!