Matthew 4:19

Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.

RBT Greek Interlinear:

Strongs 2532; kai; καὶ; And; Conj

Strongs 3004; legei; λέγει; is speaking; V-PIA-3S

Strongs 846; autois; αὐτοῖς; to themselves; PPro-DM3P

Strongs 1205; Deute; Δεῦτε; Come; V-M-2P

Strongs 3694; opisō; ὀπίσω; back; Prep

Strongs 1473; mou; μου; of myself; PPro-G1S

Strongs 2532; kai; καὶ; and; Conj

Strongs 4160; poiēsō; ποιήσω; I will make; V-FIA-1S

Strongs 4771; hymas; ὑμᾶς; yourselves; PPro-A2P

Strongs 231; halieis; ἁλιεῖς; seamen; N-AMP

Strongs 444; anthrōpōn; ἀνθρώπων; men; N-GMP

RBT Hebrew Literal:

Come, Fish in the Realm of Men

And he is speaking to themselves, "Come here backwards from myself and I will make yourselves seamen of men!"^9d

Behind/Backwards from In Front

Julia Smith Literal 1876 Translation:
And he says to them, Come after me, and I will make you the fishermen of men.

LITV Translation:
And He says to them, Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.

ESV Translation:
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Footnotes

9d

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).