-
Greek Lessons
- When News Travels: The Grammar of Report and Mission
- When Memory Speaks: Learning to Compose Greek from Mark 11:21
- When a Finger Moves the World: The Grammar of Arrival Hidden in an Exorcism
- Vindicated at the Table: How Speech Condemns and Grammar Acquits
- Carried, Not Carrying: The Grammar That Topples Boasting
-
Category
Tag Archives: Luke 3:27
“τοῦ Ἰωανάν, τοῦ Ῥησά…”: Patronymic Genitives and Ellipsis in Luke 3:27
Τοῦ Ἰωανάν, τοῦ Ῥησά, τοῦ Ζοροβάβελ, τοῦ Σαλαθιήλ, τοῦ Νηρί (Luke 3:27)
A Lineage Without Verbs
In Luke 3:23–38, the evangelist presents the genealogy of Jesus in reverse, going from Jesus all the way back to Adam. Each generation is presented in a minimalist formula:
τοῦ [Name] — “of [Name]”
Our focus here is on this segment: τοῦ Ἰωανάν, τοῦ Ῥησά, τοῦ Ζοροβάβελ, τοῦ Σαλαθιήλ, τοῦ Νηρί
All five names are in the genitive singular masculine and preceded by the article τοῦ. The grammar functions anaphorically and patronymically—meaning each τοῦ + name refers to the father of the previous individual in the list.… Learn Koine Greek