Βαβυλῶνος (Babulonos) in Matthew 1:17: Noun Genitive Singular Feminine
Βαβυλῶνος (Babulonos) in Matthew 1:17
Textual Witness
The witness reads Βαβυλῶνος in Matthew 1:17 within the phrase ἀπὸ τῆς μετοικεσίας Βαβυλῶνος.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form helps readers hear Babylon as the exile landmark in the genealogy, but the historical and literary context carries the main interpretive weight.
How To Communicate It
In teaching or translation, this form can be explained as the Babylonian deportation marker that divides the genealogy into its three 14-generation sections.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Genitive case can suggest relationship, but the nearby phrase and verse context determine the specific sense here.
- Do not turn grammatical gender into a theological gender claim.
What Does The Label Mean?
Noun: the word names Babylon as a place and historical reference point in the genealogy statement.
Genitive: the form usually marks a relationship to another noun, and here it belongs to the phrase about the deportation from Babylon.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular in this occurrence, pointing to one named place rather than several places.
Feminine: the noun belongs to the feminine grammatical class, which by itself does not make a theological claim about gender.
What The Form Does In This Verse
τῆς μετοικεσίας
The genitive form is linked to the phrase ἕως τῆς μετοικεσίας Βαβυλῶνος and helps specify the deportation by naming its association with Babylon.
It functions as part of a genitive relationship that identifies the exile event as the Babylonian deportation within the sequence of generations.
It does not by itself say that Babylon is the subject of the clause, and it does not create a new action or separate event.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The genitive place name marks Babylon as a major hinge in Matthew's genealogy structure.
Noun genitive singular feminine. identifies the Babylonian deportation as the historical boundary marker. Attached to the deportation to Babylon phrase. Governed by the genealogy summary in Matthew 1:17. The form supports the genealogy's structure while the verse states the generations.
What historical boundary appears in the genealogy summary? The deportation to Babylon marks the boundary in the summary.
Direct: The genitive directly supports of Babylon or to Babylon in the deportation phrase.
Genitive relation should be read with deportation and the summary structure. Feminine gender is grammatical. The form marks a historical reference but does not explain the whole exile theology.
Genitive alone explains genealogy theology: The genitive marks the place relation; Matthew's summary supplies the structural point. case ending fixes every directional nuance: The phrase and context determine whether English best uses of or to Babylon.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads Βαβυλῶνος in Matthew 1:17 within the phrase ἀπὸ τῆς μετοικεσίας Βαβυλῶνος.
The lemma Βαβυλών names Babylon, the well-known city and imperial center associated with exile in biblical memory.
Here the genitive works with μετοικεσίας to characterize the deportation as Babylon-related, rather than to stand alone with independent force.
The verse divides the genealogy into sections, and this form helps mark the exile from Babylon as a major historical hinge in the sequence.
The form fits the broader canonical memory of exile and return, which the genealogy uses as a structuring landmark.
For readers and teachers, the grammar highlights a historical reference point without needing to force extra detail beyond the clause.
Do not derive from the genitive any claim that the form changes the meaning of Babylon, proves a theology of gender, or settles more than the local phrase can support.