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New Testament Greek Online

Lesson 2

Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum

The first gospel clearly had a Jewish author, as may be noted from his stress on the genealogy of Jesus given in his first chapter and from his many references to Old Testament prophecies, such as the quotation in verse 6 of this text as well as others in this chapter and later. By tradition the author was Matthew (a.k.a. Levi), the tax collector whom Jesus called to be a disciple in Chapter 9, verse 9 of the book. But modern scholars consider the identification unlikely because nowhere throughout the book does the disciple provide evidence that he was its author. Rather it is assumed that the author was a Jew who wrote the book for Christians outside Israel. Because there are passages that seem to be based on Mark's account, such as the baptism of Jesus by John, it is assumed that the Gospel according to Matthew was written after that of Mark, possibly in the eighties.

Reading and Textual Analysis

Matthew 2:1-12, and Mark 10:14b (memory verse)

The Gospel according to Matthew has been especially valued, as indicated by its position as the first gospel, and also because of its remarkable passages. Among these are realistic accounts of the life of Jesus, such as his baptism by John in Chapter 3 and his temptation by the devil in Chapter 4. These are followed by passages that have been central to Christian worship ever since--the Sermon on the Mount, which includes the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer. And his exhortation in Chapter 10 to his disciples when he sent them out as well as his instructions in Chapters 18 and 19 are readily applicable to the life of his followers at the time and later. The selection here, which also illustrates the author's literary capabilities, is a central part of the annual celebration of his birth at Christmas.

2:1 - Του̂ δὲ ʼΙησου̂ γεννηθέντος ἐν Βηθλέεμ τη̂ς ʼΙουδαίας ἐν ἡμέραις ʽΗρῴδου του̂ βασιλέως, ἰδοὺ μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατολω̂ν παρεγένοντο εἰς ʽΙεροσόλυμα λέγοντες,

2:2 - που̂ ἐστιν ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεὺς τω̂ν ʼΙουδαίων;

εʼίδομεν γὰρ αὐτου̂ τὸν ἀστέρα ἐν τῃ̂ ἀνατολῃ̂, καὶ ʼήλθομεν προσκυνη̂σαι αὐτῳ̂.

2:3 - ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ʽΗρῴδης ἐταράχθη, καὶ πα̂σα ʽΙεροσόλυμα κατ' αὐτου̂.

2:4 - καὶ συναγαγὼν πάντας τοὺς ἀρχιερει̂ς καὶ γραμματει̂ς του̂ λαου̂ ἐπυνθάνετο παρ' αὐτω̂ν που̂ ὁ χριστὸς γεννα̂ται.

2:5 - οἱ δὲ εʼι̂παν αὐτῳ̂

ἐν Βηθλέεμ τη̂ς ʼΙουδαίας. οʽύτως γὰρ γέγραπται διὰ του̂ προφήτου,

2:6 - καὶ σὺ Βηθλέεμ, γη̂ ʼΙούδα,
        οὐδαμω̂ς ἐλαχίστη εʼι̂ ἐν τοι̂ς ἡγεμόσιν ʼΙούδα

ἐκ σου̂ γὰρ ἐξελεύσεται ἡγούμενος,
        ʽόστις ποιμανει̂ τὸν λαόν μου τὸν ʼΙσραήλ

2:7 - Τότε ʽΗρῴδης λάθρα καλέσας τοὺς μάγους ἠκρίβωσεν παρ' αὐτω̂ν τὸν χρόνον του̂ φαινομένου ἀστέρος.

2:8 - καὶ πέμψας αὐτοὺς εἰς Βηθλέεμ εʼι̂πεν

πορευθέντες ἐξετάσατε ἀκριβω̂ς περὶ του̂ παιδίου.

ἐπὰν δὲ εʽύρητε, ἀπαγγείλατέ μοι, ʽόπως κάγὼ ἐλθὼν προσκυνήσω αὐτῳ̂.

2:9 - οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαντες του̂ βασιλέως ἐπορεύθησαν.

καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ ἀστήρ, ʽὸν εʼι̂δον ἐν τῃ̂ ἀνατολῃ̂, προη̂γεν αὐτοὺς ʽέως ἐλθὼν ἐστάθη ἐπάνω οʽυ̂ ʼη̂ν τὸ παιδίον.

2:10 - ἰδόντες δὲ τὸν ἀστέρα ἐχάρησαν χαρὰν μεγάλην σφόδρα.

2:11 - καὶ ἐλθόντες εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν εʼι̂δον τὸ παιδίον μετὰ Μαρίας τη̂ς μητρὸς αὐτου̂.

καὶ πεσόντες προσεκύνησαν αὐτῳ̂, καὶ ἀνοίξαντες τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὐτω̂ν προσήνεγκαν αὐτῳ̂ δω̂ρα, χρυσὸν καὶ λίβανον καὶ σμύρναν.

2:12 - καὶ χρηματισθέντες κατ' ʼόναρ μὴ ἀνακάμψαι πρὸς ʽΗρῴδην, δι' ʼάλλης ὁδου̂ ἀνεχώρησαν εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτω̂ν.

Mark 10:14b (memory verse) -

        ʼΆφετε τὰ παιδία ʼέρχεσθαι πρός με,
        μὴ κωλύετε αὐτά·
        τω̂ν γὰρ τοιούτων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία του̂ θεου̂.

Lesson Text

2:1 Του̂ δὲ ʼΙησου̂ γεννηθέντος ἐν Βηθλέεμ τη̂ς ʼΙουδαίας ἐν ἡμέραις ʽΗρῴδου του̂ βασιλέως, ἰδοὺ μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατολω̂ν παρεγένοντο εἰς ʽΙεροσόλυμα λέγοντες, 2:2 που̂ ἐστιν ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεὺς τω̂ν ʼΙουδαίων; εʼίδομεν γὰρ αὐτου̂ τὸν ἀστέρα ἐν τῃ̂ ἀνατολῃ̂, καὶ ʼήλθομεν προσκυνη̂σαι αὐτῳ̂.

2:3 ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ʽΗρῴδης ἐταράχθη, καὶ πα̂σα ʽΙεροσόλυμα κατ' αὐτου̂. 2:4 καὶ συναγαγὼν πάντας τοὺς ἀρχιερει̂ς καὶ γραμματει̂ς του̂ λαου̂ ἐπυνθάνετο παρ' αὐτω̂ν που̂ ὁ χριστὸς γεννα̂ται. 2:5 οἱ δὲ εʼι̂παν αὐτῳ̂ ἐν Βηθλέεμ τη̂ς ʼΙουδαίας. οʽύτως γὰρ γέγραπται διὰ του̂ προφήτου,

        2:6 καὶ σὺ Βηθλέεμ, γη̂ ʼΙούδα,
        οὐδαμω̂ς ἐλαχίστη εʼι̂ ἐν τοι̂ς ἡγεμόσιν ʼΙούδα
        ἐκ σου̂ γὰρ ἐξελεύσεται ἡγούμενος,
        ʽόστις ποιμανει̂ τὸν λαόν μου τὸν ʼΙσραήλ

2:7 Τότε ʽΗρῴδης λάθρα καλέσας τοὺς μάγους ἠκρίβωσεν παρ' αὐτω̂ν τὸν χρόνον του̂ φαινομένου ἀστέρος. 2:8 καὶ πέμψας αὐτοὺς εἰς Βηθλέεμ εʼι̂πεν πορευθέντες ἐξετάσατε ἀκριβω̂ς περὶ του̂ παιδίου. ἐπὰν δὲ εʽύρητε, ἀπαγγείλατέ μοι, ʽόπως κάγὼ ἐλθὼν προσκυνήσω αὐτῳ̂.

2:9 οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαντες του̂ βασιλέως ἐπορεύθησαν. καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ ἀστήρ, ʽὸν εʼι̂δον ἐν τῃ̂ ἀνατολῃ̂, προη̂γεν αὐτοὺς ʽέως ἐλθὼν ἐστάθη ἐπάνω οʽυ̂ ʼη̂ν τὸ παιδίον. 2:10 ἰδόντες δὲ τὸν ἀστέρα ἐχάρησαν χαρὰν μεγάλην σφόδρα. 2:11 καὶ ἐλθόντες εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν εʼι̂δον τὸ παιδίον μετὰ Μαρίας τη̂ς μητρὸς αὐτου̂. καὶ πεσόντες προσεκύνησαν αὐτῳ̂, καὶ ἀνοίξαντες τοὺς θησαυροὺς αὐτω̂ν προσήνεγκαν αὐτῳ̂ δω̂ρα, χρυσὸν καὶ λίβανον καὶ σμύρναν. 2:12 καὶ χρηματισθέντες κατ' ʼόναρ μὴ ἀνακάμψαι πρὸς ʽΗρῴδην, δι' ʼάλλης ὁδου̂ ἀνεχώρησαν εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτω̂ν.

Mark 10:14b (memory verse) -

        ʼΆφετε τὰ παιδία ʼέρχεσθαι πρός με,
        μὴ κωλύετε αὐτά·
        τω̂ν γὰρ τοιούτων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία του̂ θεου̂.

Translation

From the King James version:
2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda,
art not the least among the princes of Juda:
for out of thee shall come a Governor,
that shall rule my people Israel.
7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Mark 10:14b (memory verse) --
Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not:
for of such is the kingdom of God.

Grammar

6. Conjunctions and Particles.

As these texts exemplify, Greek makes great use of conjunctions and particles. These may have basic meanings, but many of them simply suggest relationships between syntactic units, so that they vary in use and may even not need to be translated.

The most common conjunction is καί, with a basic meaning of 'and' but also 'even' and at times 'but'. Another common conjunction is γάρ, with a basic meaning of 'for' but also 'now', or it may be added simply to strengthen questions.

Particles typically stand right after the first content word in sentences. Among the particles, δέ is very common, as in our texts; it has a basic adversative meaning and may often be translated 'but' or 'on the other hand', but is often redundant. In a different meaning it is attached to names of places that are in the accusative, and then means 'to'. In addition it may be added to pronouns to strengthen their meaning. The particle τε is also very common, and has the meaning 'and'; it is often used after both nouns that are conjoined. The particle μέν often stands in clauses that are followed by other clauses including δέ, where it means something like 'on the one hand'; it may also be combined with other particles, as in μὲν ʼάρα, where it means 'and'. The particle δή indicates emphasis, as on the word preceding it. In short, particles often supply meaning much as intonation does in English. The meaning of the content words in sentences may be a guide to interpretation of the particles included in them.

7. Participles.

Participles are often used to function as verbs of modifying clauses. These modifying clauses may correspond to relative clauses, as does τεχθαὶς in 2:2. The relationship to a principal clauses may require a further interpretation, as does that of the participle ἀκούσας in 2:3 or that of συναγαγὼν in 2:4. On the other hand, they may be treated as participles in English, for example πέμψας in 2:8. They may also be nominal; an example is ἡγούμενος in 2:6. The interpretations will generally be clear from the contexts in which they are found.

8. Nouns in consonantal declension.

Nouns in the consonantal declension often have the final consonant elided before the nominative ending, so that their stem form must be determined from the genitive or other oblique cases. Examples are given here of nouns with stems ending in -δ- and -ρ-.

    Masculine   Feminine
Nom sg   ὁ παι̂ς 'child'   ἡ θυγάτηρ 'daughter'
Gen sg   του̂ παιδός   τη̂ς θυγατέρος
Dat sg   τῳ̂ παιδί   τῃ̂ θυγατέρι
Acc sg   τὸν παι̂δα   τη̂ν θυγατέρα
         
Nom pl   οἱ παι̂δες   αἱ θυγατέρες
Gen pl   τω̂ν παίδων   τω̂ν θυγατέρων
Dat pl   τοι̂ς παι̂σι   ται̂ς θυγατέρσι
Acc pl   τοὺς παι̂δας   τὰς θυγατέρας
9. Personal pronouns.

The first and second personal pronouns have enclitic forms in the oblique cases of the singular, which are given here after the regular forms; they have no accent. The third person forms, for 'he, she, it', are supplied by the intensive pronoun meaning 'self'; the genitive singular forms would have the meanings 'of him, of her, of it', the dative singular forms would have the meanings 'to him, to her, to it', and so on.

    1st Person   2nd Person   3rd Person
            Masc.   Fem.   Neut.
Nom sg   ἐγώ   σύ   αὐτός   αὐτή   αὐτό
Gen sg   ἐμου̂, μου   σου̂, σου   αὐτου̂   αὐτη̂ς   αὐτου̂
Dat sg   ἐμοί, μοι   σοί, σοι   αὐτῳ̂   αὐτῃ̂   αὐτῳ̂
Acc sg   ἐμέ, με   σέ, σε   αὐτόν   αὐτήν   αὐτό
                     
Nom pl   ἡμει̂ς   ὑμει̂ς   αὐτοι̂   αὐται̂   αὐτά
Gen pl   ἡμω̂ν   ὑμω̂ν   αὐτω̂ν   αὐτω̂ν   αὐτω̂ν
Dat pl   ἡμι̂ν   ὑμι̂ν   αὐτοι̂ς   αὐται̂ς   αὐτοι̂ς
Acc pl   ἡμα̂ς   ὑμα̂ς   αὐτούς   αὐτάς   αὐτά
10. The Present System of verbs.

The present system includes five categories of forms: the present indicative, the imperfect, the subjunctive, the optative, and the imperative. In addition there is an infinitive and also a participle. The first two categories have been given in Lesson 1; the others are given here using the verb [infinitive] πιστεύειν.

    Subjunctive   Optative   Imperative
1 sg   πιστεύω   πιστεύοιμι    
2 sg   πιστεύῃς   πιστεύοις   πίστευε
3 sg   πιστεύῃ   πιστεύοι   πιστευέτω
             
1 pl   πιστεύωμεν   πιστεύοιμεν    
2 pl   πιστεύητε   πιστεύοιτε   πιστεύετε
3 pl   πιστεύωσι(ν)   πιστεύοιεν   πιστευόντων

The participial forms, nominative and genitive singular, are as follows.

    Masculine   Feminine   Neuter
Nom sg   πιστεύων   πιστεύουσα   πιστευ̂ον
Gen sg   πιστεύοντος   πιστευούσης   πιστεύοντος