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Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς γενέσθαι ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.
RBT Greek Interlinear:
Strongs 2532  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
kai
καὶ
And
Conj
Strongs 2036  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
eipen
εἶπεν
said
V-AIA-3S
Strongs 846  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
autois
αὐτοῖς
to themselves
PPro-DM3P
Strongs 3588  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
ho

the
Art-NMS
Strongs 2424  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
Iēsous
Ἰησοῦς
Salvation
N-NMS
Strongs 1205  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
Deute
Δεῦτε
Come
V-M-2P
Strongs 3694  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
opisō
ὀπίσω
back
Prep
Strongs 1473  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
mou
μου
of myself
PPro-G1S
Strongs 2532  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
kai
καὶ
and
Conj
Strongs 4160  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
poiēsō
ποιήσω
I will make
V-FIA-1S
Strongs 4771  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
hymas
ὑμᾶς
yourselves
PPro-A2P
Strongs 1096  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
genesthai
γενέσθαι
become
V-ANM
Strongs 231  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
halieis
ἁλιεῖς
seamen
N-AMP
Strongs 444  [list]
Λογεῖον
Perseus
anthrōpōn
ἀνθρώπων
men
N-GMP
RBT Translation:
Become of Men
And the Salvation said to themselves, "Come here, backwards from myself, and I will make yourselves to become seamen of men."3
LITV Translation:
And Jesus said to them, Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
ESV Translation:
Error retrieving verse.

Footnotes

3

To Fish in the Realm of Men

The Greek ἁλιεῖς is a noun, and not a verb. The word ἁλιεύω is the verb "to fish" and is not used here. To express the traditional interpretation, one would expect οἱ ἀλιεύοντες "the ones who fish for" (Cf. Perseus ἀλιεύοντες)

"οἱ ἀλιεύοντες ἀνθρώπους" 

"those who fish for men"

Where ἀνθρώπους is in the accusative.

Basically the traditional interpretation is a complete misnomer and hacking of the grammar. The genitive "of" was very craftily used in an accusative sense because in English the word "of" can sometime have an accusative sense. Artificial Intelligence even knows this:

ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων would not mean "fishers for men" in the grammatical sense. Here's why:

    • ἁλιεῖς is the nominative plural of ἁλιεύς, meaning "seaman/sailor/fisherman."
    • ἀνθρώπων is in the genitive plural, which generally indicates possession, origin, or association, rather than the direct object of an action.

In this construction, ἀνθρώπων would typically mean something like "of men" or "of people." 

However in English, "fishers of men" can have an accusative sense because the preposition "of" often corresponds to the genitive in Greek, but it can sometimes express a direct object relationship in English.

However, in Greek, ἀνθρώπων (genitive) would not directly translate to the same sense as an accusative would in English. The genitive here expresses "of men" or "belonging to men," which indicates a relationship of association rather than a direct object of the action (i.e., fishing for men).

To break it down:

    • ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων: "Fishers of men" (genitive), meaning those who are fishers in association with men, or who fish in the realm of men. It has more of an abstract or metaphorical relationship with "men" rather than a direct action of fishing.
    • ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπους: "Fishers of men" (accusative), which is the more straightforward and grammatically correct way to express "those who fish for men."

While ἀνθρώπων can indeed imply a relationship that, in some contexts, could be understood in English as an accusative sense, Greek grammar would not use the genitive here to indicate a direct object of the action in the way English might allow.

So, if you want to keep the sense of "fishing for men," using the accusative (ἀνθρώπους) would be the best way to directly express that in Greek.

To express "fishers for men" or "those who fish for men," you'd need the accusative case, as in ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπους, where ἀνθρώπους is in the accusative and would be understood as the object of the verb ἀλιεύειν (to fish).