μετοικεσίαν (metoikesian) in Matthew 1:12: Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
μετοικεσίαν (metoikesian) in Matthew 1:12
Textual Witness
The witness reads μετοικεσίαν in Matthew 1:12 within the phrase Μετὰ δὲ τὴν μετοικεσίαν Βαβυλῶνος.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form supports a temporal reading of the phrase and helps the verse communicate historical sequence and continuity in the genealogy.
How To Communicate It
Readers can present the clause as, after the Babylonian deportation, Jechoniah fathered Salathiel, which keeps the focus on the narrative timeline.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Accusative case here marks phrase function, but the surrounding words determine the historical reference.
- Grammatical gender is a form class only and should not be turned into a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names an event or state of affairs, here a historical migration or deportation.
Accusative: the form commonly marks a direct object, a time or extent phrase, or another complement role in the clause.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular and points to one deportation or one period of removal in this wording.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which is a language form and does not itself make a theological claim.
What The Form Does In This Verse
Μετὰ δὲ τὴν μετοικεσίαν Βαβυλῶνος
The noun is introduced by the preposition Μετὰ and the article τὴν, so it is being read as the object of the time expression, not as the subject of the sentence.
It specifies the time frame: after the Babylonian deportation or migration, the genealogy moves on to Jechoniah and the next begetting.
It is not the subject of ἐγέννησε, and the accusative form by itself does not require an object-complement or any special theological emphasis.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The accusative noun functions inside a prepositional time phrase, helping the genealogy mark historical sequence.
Object of a temporal preposition. marks the historical time frame for the next genealogical step. Attached to the phrase after the Babylonian deportation. Governed by the preposition meaning after. The form supports the time phrase, while the genealogy supplies the larger covenant and historical flow.
What time marker frames this part of the genealogy? The deportation to Babylon is the object of the temporal phrase that frames what follows.
Direct: The accusative with the preposition directly supports the English temporal phrase "after the deportation."
The accusative is governed by the preposition here rather than functioning as the direct object of the begetting verb.
Accusative always means direct object: Accusative can be governed by a preposition; this occurrence functions in a temporal phrase.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads μετοικεσίαν in Matthew 1:12 within the phrase Μετὰ δὲ τὴν μετοικεσίαν Βαβυλῶνος.
The lemma μετοικεσία means deportation, migration, or change of abode, and here it names the Babylonian removal in the line of Israel's history.
The accusative form fits the prepositional phrase after Μετὰ, so the grammar locates the next genealogy scene after that event rather than defining the event beyond what the context already says.
The verse uses the phrase to place Jechoniah and the following generations after the Babylonian exile, helping the reader track the historical sequence.
In Matthew's genealogy, this wording highlights the exile as a major turning point without making the form itself carry the whole theological weight of the passage.
For teaching or reading, the form helps identify the phrase as a time marker: after the deportation, the genealogy continues.
Do not infer from the accusative alone that the word changes meaning, that it names a person, or that grammatical gender implies a gendered doctrinal point.