LOY Excursus: The Genitive Absolute in the Synoptic Gospels

Updated: 23 October 2024^[21]

The genitive absolute (perhaps better called a genitive circumstantial participial clause)^[22] is a Greek grammatical construction in which a clause—often (but not always) at the beginning of a sentence—uses an anarthrous participle in the genitive case to describe an activity that was taking place in relation to the main action of the sentence. The genitive participle is often (but not always) accompanied by a genitive noun or pronoun that serves as the subject of the clause. According to the canons of Classical Greek, the subject of the genitive absolute ought not to appear in the main sentence, but this rule was not strictly observed even among classical authors, and was observed even less in Koine Greek.^[23]

---

Click here to return to The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction main page. _______________________________________________________

---

• ^[1] Soisalon-Soininen estimated that there are a little over 200 instances of the genitive absolute (gen. abs.) in the LXX books that are also included in the Hebrew canon. See Ilmari Soisalon-Soininen, “Der Gebrauch des Genetivus Absolutus in der Septuaginta,” Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies 6.4 (1973): 131-136, esp. 132.

  The exact frequency of gen. abs. in LXX is difficult to determine from reading the secondary literature on the subject because the estimates vary so widely. Compounding the problem is the fact that some scholars failed to indicate which examples they counted as instances of gen. abs., so it is difficult to know what they included or omitted in their survey. The following table shows the number of instances of gen. abs. in LXX as counted by Argyle and Turner (who relied on Argyle) as compared to the census of gen. abs. in LXX as taken by Jones:

  Book	Instances of Gen. Abs.			Book	Instances of Gen. Abs.
  	A&T	Jones			A&T	Jones
  Gen.	9	8		Song	0	0
  Exod.	9	8		Job	13	19
  Lev.	7	7		Wis.	13	10
  Num.	5	5		Sir.	1	0
  Deut.	7	13		Pss. Sol.	??	2
  Josh.	1	2		Hos.	4	4
  Judg.	1	0		Joel	0	0
  Ruth	0	0		Amos	0	0
  1 Kgdms.	7	12		Obad.	0	0
  2 Kgdms.	6	4		Jonah	1	1
  3 Kgdms.	6	11		Mic.	??	1
  4 Kgdms.	6	8		Nah.	0	0
  1 Chr.	2	3		Hab.	0	0
  2 Chr.	3	5		Zeph.	0	0
  1 Esd.	11	15		Hag.	0	0
  Ezra	0	1		Zech.	0	0
  Neh.	??	??		Mal.	0	0
  Esth.	??	2		Isa.	4	3
  Jdt.	0	1		Jer.	8	7
  Tob.	3	4		Bar.	??	0
  1 Macc.	4	3		Lam.	??	1
  2 Macc.	80	116		Ep. Jer.	1	3
  3 Macc.	27	40		Ezek.	2	1
  4 Macc.	21	25		Dan.	6	9
  Ps.	4	4		Sus.	??	2
  Prov.	8	14		Bel	??	1
  Eccl.	1	4		Total:	281	379

  See A. W. Argyle, “The Genitive Absolute in Biblical Greek,” Expository Times 69.9 (1957/1958): 285; Nigel Turner, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1965), 179; Ivor H. Jones, The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 498-511. Unlike Argyle and Turner, Jones did document each instance of gen. abs. he identified in LXX (see below). However, Jones’ count omits several of the examples we have identified.

  For purposes of comparison with the Synoptic Gospels, not all LXX books are created equal. By their nature genitives absolute are more likely to be found in narrative than poetry, so it is not particularly meaningful when Turner (Grammatical Insights into the New Testament, 177) compared the frequency of gen. abs. in Q materials to that in Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), writing, “in subject-matter Q is most comparable with Ecclesiasticus and yet even in St. Matthew’s version of Q, where it [i.e., gen. abs.—DNB and JNT] occurs less often than in St. Luke’s, the genitive absolute occurs twenty-eight times as often as in Ecclesiasticus” (emphasis original). We should expect that Ben Sira, which consists mostly of poetry, would have a very low number of genitives absolute. The Pentateuch, on the other hand, is mainly narrative, making it much more useful for comparison with the Synoptic Gospels. Therefore, in the survey below we have limited ourselves to documenting the instances of gen. abs. in the Pentateuch:

  Genesis

  	Reference	Clause	Translation	Noted
  1	Gen. 18:1	καθημένου αὐτοῦ	while he was sitting	Aejmelaeus; Jones; Joosten; Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  2	Gen. 23:10	ἀκουόντων τῶν υἱῶν Χετ	as the sons of Chet listened	Jones; Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  3	Gen. 24:30	ἑστηκότος αὐτοῦ	as he stood	Aejmelaeus; Joosten; Muraoka
  4	Gen. 25:6	ἔτι ζῶντος αὐτοῦ	while he was still living	Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  5	Gen. 27:38	κατανυχθέντος δὲ Ισαακ	but Isaac being cut to the quick
  6	Gen. 29:6 (MS A)	ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος	while he was still speaking	Jones
  7	Gen. 29:9	ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος	while he was still speaking	Aejmelaeus; Jones
  8	Gen. 30:38	ἐλθόντων αὐτῶν	when they came	Joosten
  9	Gen. 37:17	αὐτῶν λεγόντων	when they said
  10	Gen. 44:4	ἐξελθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν	but when they went out	Jones; Joosten; Thiersch
  11	Gen. 44:14	ἔτι αὐτοῦ ὄντος ἐκεῖ	while he was still being there	Aejmelaeus; Joosten; Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  12	Gen. 44:26	τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ νεωτέρου μὴ ὄντος	while the youngest brother is not being	Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  13	Gen. 44:34	τοῦ παιδίου μὴ ὄντος	while the child is not being	Aejmelaeus; Jones; Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  14	Gen. 48:7	ἐγγίζοντός μου	while I was approaching	Jones; Muraoka
  15	Gen. 50:17	λαλούντων αὐτῶν	while they were speaking

  Exodus

  	Reference	Clause	Translation	Noted
  1	Exod. 2:10	ἁδρυνθέντος δὲ τοῦ παιδίου	but when the child was grown	Aejmelaeus; Conybeare-Stock; Jones; Joosten; Muraoka; Perkins
  2	Exod. 4:21	πορευομένου σου καὶ ἀποστρέφοντος	as you go and return	Jones; Joosten; Muraoka; Perkins; Thiersch
  3	Exod. 5:20	ἐκπορευομένων αὐτῶν	while they were going out	Conybeare-Stock; Jones; Joosten; Muraoka; Perkins; Thiersch
  4	Exod. 12:18	ἐναρχομένου...τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ πρώτου	when the first month begins	Jones; Muraoka; Perkins
  5	Exod. 12:29	μεσούσης τῆς νυκτὸ	while it was the middle of the night	Jones; Perkins; Soisalon-Soininen
  6	Exod. 14:18	ἐνδοξαζομένου μου	while I am glorified	Joosten; Perkins; Thiersch
  7	Exod. 16:1	ἐξεληλυθότων αὐτῶν	after they went out	Joosten; Perkins
  8	Exod. 16:13	καταπαυομένης τῆς δρόσου	while the dew came	Joosten; Perkins
  9	Exod. 19:9	λαλοῦντος μου	while I speak	Muraoka
  10	Exod. 19:16	γενηθέντος πρὸς ὄρθρον	while it was nearly dawn	Jones; Muraoka; Perkins
  11	Exod. 33:8	ἀπιόντος Μωυσῆ	while Moses was away	Jones
  12	Exod. 33:16	συμπορευομένου σου	by your going	Perkins
  13	Exod. 34:22	μεσοῦντος τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ	during the middle of the year	Perkins
  14	Exod. 34:29	καταβαίνοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ	but while he descended	Jones; Joosten; Perkins
  15	Exod. 38:27	εἰσπορευομένων αὐτῶν	when they entered	Muraoka; Perkins
  16	Exod. 40:17	ἐκπορευομένων αὐτῶν	when they went out	Perkins

  Leviticus

  	Reference	Clause	Translation	Noted
  1	Lev. 10:9	προσπορευομένων ὑμῶν	when you approach	Jones; Muraoka
  2	Lev. 11:31	τεθνηκότων	while they are dead
  3	Lev. 11:32	τεθνηκότων αὐτῶν	while they are dead
  4	Lev. 15:23	αὐτῆς οὔσης	while she is being
  5	Lev. 16:17	εἰσπορευομένου αὐτοῦ	while he enters	Jones
  6	Lev. 16:23	εἰσπορευομένου αὐτοῦ	while he entered	Muraoka; Thiersch
  7	Lev. 18:18	ἔτι ζώσης αὐτῆς	while she still lives	Muraoka
  8	Lev. 19:9	καὶ ἐκθεριζόντων ὑμῶν	and when you reap	Jones; Muraoka
  9	Lev. 21:10	τοῦ ἐπικεχυμένον...τοῦ ἐλαίου	when the oil is poured upon	Muraoka
  10	Lev. 21:10	τετελειωμένου ἐνδύσασθαι	when he has been ordained to wear	Muraoka
  11	Lev. 26:13	ὄντων ὑμῶν δούλων	while you were slaves	Muraoka
  12	Lev. 26:17	οὐθενὸς διώκοντος ὑμᾶς	while no one pursues you	Aejmelaeus; Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  13	Lev. 26:36	οὐθενὸς διώκοντος	while no one pursues	Aejmelaeus; Jones; Soisalon-Soininen
  14	Lev. 26:37	οὐθενὸς κατατρέχοντος	while no one is pursuing	Aejmelaeus; Jones; Soisalon-Soininen
  15	Lev. 26:44	ὄντων αὐτῶν	while they were being	Jones; Muraoka
  16	Lev. 27:21	ἐξεληλυθυίας τῆς ἀφέσεως	when the release has expired	Jones

  Numbers

  	Reference	Clause	Translation	Noted
  1	Num. 1:1	ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν	when they went out
  2	Num. 3:4	προσφερόντων αὐτῶν	when they brought near	Jones; Joosten; Muraoka
  3	Num. 4:19	προσπορευομένων αὐτῶν	when they approach	Jones; Joosten; Muraoka
  4	Num. 6:7	ἀποθανόντων αὐτῶν	when they die	Jones; Joosten; Muraoka
  5	Num. 9:1	ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν	after they went out
  6	Num. 9:5	ἐναρχομένου...τοῦ μηνὸς	when the month began	Muraoka
  7	Num. 9:22	πλεοναζούσης τῆς νεφέλης σκιαζούσης	while the cloud overshadows	Jones
  8	Num. 11:10	κλαιόντων αὐτῶν	while they wept
  9	Num. 13:21	εἰσπορευομένων	as they enter	Muraoka; Thiersch
  10	Num. 34:8	εἰσπορευομένων	as they enter	Jones

  Deuteronomy

  	Reference	Clause	Translation	Noted
  1	Deut. 4:34	βλέποντος	while you watched
  2	Deut. 4:45	ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν	when they came out	Jones; Joosten
  3	Deut. 4:46	ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν	when they came out	Jones
  4	Deut. 6:4	ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν	when they came out	Jones
  5	Deut. 8:13	καὶ τῶν βοῶν σου καὶ τῶν προβάτων σου πληθυνθέντων σοι	when your cattle and sheep are multiplied to you	Aejmelaeus; Jones
  6	Deut. 8:13	ἀργυρίου καὶ χρυσίου πληθυνθέντος σοι	when silver and gold is multiplied to you	Aejmelaeus; Jones
  7	Deut. 8:13	καὶ πάντων...πληθυνθέντων σοι	and when all things...are multiplied to you	Aejmelaeus; Jones
  8	Deut. 9:9	ἀναβαίνοντός μου	when I went up	Jones
  9	Deut. 11:4	καταδιωκόντων αὐτῶν	while they pursued
  10	Deut. 11:19 (MS B)	καθημένου σου...καὶ πορευομένου σου...καὶ καθεύδουντός σου καὶ διανισταμένου σου	while you sit...and while you walk...and while you lie down and while you get up	Jones; Thiersch
  11	Deut. 15:10	διδόντος σου	while you give	Conybeare-Stock; Jones; Muraoka; Thiersch
  12	Deut. 15:18	ἐξαποστελλομένων αὐτῶν ἐλευθέρων	while they are sent out free
  13	Deut. 16:9	ἀρξαμένου σου	when you have begun	Muraoka; Thiersch
  14	Deut. 23:5	ἐκπορευομένων ὑμῶν	while you came out
  15	Deut. 23:12	καὶ δεδυκότος ἡλίου	and when the sun has set	Jones
  16	Deut. 24:9	ἐκπορευομένων ὑμῶν	when you came out	Jones; Soisalon-Soininen
  17	Deut. 25:17	ἐκπορευομένου σου	when you came out	Jones
  18	Deut. 31:27	ἔτι γὰρ ἐμοῦ ζῶντος	for while I am still living	Jones; Muraoka; Soisalon-Soininen
  19	Deut. 33:5	συναχθέντων ἀρχόντων λαῶν	when rulers of the people are gathered	Jones
  20	Deut. 33:21	συνηγμένων	when gathering	Aejmelaeus

  In the tables above, the names mentioned in the “Noted” column refer to Anneli Aejmelaeus, Parataxis in the Septuagint: A Study of the Renderings of the Hebrew Coordinate Clauses in the Greek Pentateuch (Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1982), 110-112; F. C. Conybeare and St. George Stock, Selections from the Septuagint According to the Text of Swete (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1905), 58; Jones, The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary, 498-511; Joosten, “Varieties of Greek in the Septuagint and the New Testament,” 27; Muraoka, A Syntax of Septuagint Greek, 413-421; Larry Perkins, “‘Drawn from the Water’: A Commentary on the Old Greek Text of Exodus 2.1-10,” in The SBL Commentary on the Septuagint: An Introduction (ed. Dirk Büchner; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017), 69-94, esp. 90; Soisalon-Soininen, “Der Gebrauch des Genetivus Absolutus in der Septuaginta,” 132-135; Heinrich Wilhelm Josias Thiersch, De Pentateuchi Versione Alexandrina Libri Tres (Erlangae: Blaesing, 1841), 103, 140-141. N.B., only Jones attempted to create an exhaustive list of the instances of gen. abs. in LXX. The other scholars simply discussed certain typical examples. ↩

• ^[2] See, for instance, Argyle, “The Genitive Absolute in Biblical Greek,” 285; Turner, Grammatical Insights into the New Testament, 177; Kloppenborg, 60. ↩
• ^[3] Counts of gen. abs. in the Synoptic Gospels are given as follows:

  Gospel	Total Instances of the Genitive Absolute
  	Argyle	Turner	Sheret	Jones	Fuller	Healey & Healey
  Matthew	40	52	52	52	52	52
  Mark	29	30	37	34	35 (+ 1 in Mark 16:20)	35
  Luke	35	43	62	51	56	58

  Argyle’s count is given in “The Genitive Absolute in Biblical Greek,” 285; Taylor’s count is given in Grammatical Insights into the New Testament, 178. For Sheret’s count of gen. abs., provided in B. S. Sheret, “An Examination of Some Problems of the Language of St. Matthew” (diss., Oxford, 1971), we have relied on Luz, 24 n. 147. For Jones’ count, see The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary, 483. For Fuller’s count, see Lois K. Fuller, “The ‘Genitive Absolute’ in New Testament/Hellenistic Greek: A Proposal for Clearer Understanding,” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 3 (2006): 142-167, esp. 145.

  Healey and Healey (“Greek Circumstantial Participles: Tracking Participants with Participles in the Greek New Testament,” 251-252) do identify each of the instances of what they refer to as “genitive circumstantial participial clauses.” ↩

• ^[4] “Healey-Healey” refers to Healey and Healey, “Greek Circumstantial Participles: Tracking Participants with Participles in the Greek New Testament,” 251-252. “Jones” refers to Jones, The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary, 487-489. "Scomp" refers to Henry Anselm Scomp, “The Case Absolute in the New Testament (Parts 1 and 2),” Bibliotheca Sacra 59 (1902): 76-84, 325-340. ↩
• ^[5] Fuller (“The ‘Genitive Absolute’ in New Testament/Hellenistic Greek: A Proposal for Clearer Understanding,” 151 n. 38) notes the inconsistency of Healey and Healey for not counting ἀνακειμένου in Matt. 26:7 as an example of gen. abs. ↩
• ^[6] “Healey-Healey” refers to Healey and Healey, “Greek Circumstantial Participles: Tracking Participants with Participles in the Greek New Testament,” 251-252. “Jones” refers to Jones, The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary, 490-491. "Pryke" refers to Pryke, 62. "Scomp" refers to Scomp, “The Case Absolute in the New Testament (Parts 1 and 2),” 76-84, 325-340. ↩
• ^[7] “Healey-Healey” refers to Healey and Healey, “Greek Circumstantial Participles: Tracking Participants with Participles in the Greek New Testament,” 251-252. “Jones” refers to Jones, The Matthean Parables: A Literary and Historical Commentary, 492-495. "Scomp" refers to Scomp, “The Case Absolute in the New Testament (Parts 1 and 2),” 76-84, 325-340. ↩
• ^[8] Matthew 17:14 appears to be a redactional doublet of Matt. 17:9. ↩
• ^[9] Not every instance of gen. abs. in Matthew unsupported by the parallels in Mark and/or Luke can be automatically attributed to the author of Matthew. For instance, the phrase καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτοῦ ἀνακειμένου (“and it happened while he was reclining”; Matt. 9:10; cf. Mark 2:15; Luke 5:29) may have been copied from Anth. See Call of Levi, Comment to L25-26. ↩
• ^[10] The author of Matthew’s rejection of ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος in Yair’s Daughter and a Woman’s Faith is difficult to assess. In LXX the phrase ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος (eti avtou lalountos, “while he was still speaking”; Gen. 29:9; 3 Kgdms. 1:22, 42; 4 Kgdms. 6:33; Esth. 6:14) occurs as the translation of עוֹדֶנּוּ מְדַבֵּר (‘ōdenū m^edabēr, “while he was still speaking”). So, this particular gen. abs. construction reverts relatively easily to Hebrew, making it not unlikely that the wording in Mark 5:35 ∥ Luke 8:49 came from Anth. Moreover, the author of Matthew not only rejected ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος in Yair’s Daughter and a Woman’s Faith, he omitted the entire scene in which Yair (Jairus) receives the report of his daughter’s death (Mark 5:35-37; Luke 8:49-51). Did the author of Matthew excise this scene, or was it absent in Anth.? ↩
• ^[11] Pryke (62-67) reached a similar conclusion from the perspective of the Two-source Hypothesis. ↩
• ^[12] The gen. abs. in Luke 22:10 (εἰσελθόντων ὑμῶν [“when you enter”]; cf. Matt. 26:18; Mark 14:13) was accepted for GR in Preparations for Eating the Passover Lamb, L22. Other instances of gen. abs. in Luke rejected by the author of Mark may also have occurred in Anth. ↩
• ^[13] On the phenomenon of "Markan stereotypes," see Robert L. Lindsey, “Introduction to A Hebrew Translation of the Gospel of Mark,” under the subheading “The Markan Stereotypes.” See also LOY Excursus: Catalog of Markan Stereotypes and Possible Markan Pick-ups. ↩
• ^[14] Buth counted sixty-four instances of genitie absolute in Luke, but he did not cite references. See Randall Buth, “Evaluating Luke’s Unnatural Greek: A Look at His Connectives,” in Discourse Studies and Biblical Interpretation: A Festschrift in Honor of Stephen H. Levinsohn (ed. Steven E. Runge; Bellingham, Wash.: Logos Bible Software, 2011), 335-369, esp. 342. ↩
• ^[15] The author of Luke’s reliance on FR may also have contributed to the presence of gen. abs. in Luke.
  So far we have found the following instances of gen. abs. in Luke to be redactional:
  • Luke 3:15 (προσδοκῶντος δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ). See Yohanan the Immerser’s Eschatological Discourse, Comment to L1.
  • Luke 3:15 (καὶ διαλογιζομένων πάντων). See Yohanan the Immerser’s Eschatological Discourse, Comment to L2.
  • Luke 3:21 (καὶ Ἰησοῦ βαπτισθέντος καὶ προσευχομένου). See Yeshua’s Immersion, Comment to L23 and Comment to L24.
  • Luke 4:2 (καὶ συντελεσθεισῶν αὐτῶν). See Yeshua’s Testing, Comment to L20.
  • Luke 8:4 (συνιόντος δὲ ὄχλου πολλοῦ). See Four Soils parable, Comment to L6.
  • Luke 8:4 (καὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλιν ἐπιπορευομένων). See Four Soils parable, Comment to L10.
  • Luke 14:29 (θέντος αὐτοῦ...καὶ μὴ ἰσχύοντος). See Tower Builder and King Going to War, Comment to L5-6.
  • Luke 14:32 (ἔτι αὐτοῦ πόρρω ὄντος). See Tower Builder and King Going to War, Comment to L19.

  ↩

• ^[16] On τότε as an indicator of Matthean redaction, see Jesus and a Canaanite Woman, Comment to L22. ↩
• ^[17] On ὥστε + infinitive as typical of Matthean redaction, see Sending the Twelve: Commissioning, Comment to L21. ↩
• ^[18] See Call of Levi, Comment to L25-26. ↩
• ^[19] See Quieting a Storm, Comment to L18. ↩
• ^[20] See Preparations for Eating the Passover Lamb, Comment to L22. ↩
• ^[21] For abbreviations and bibliographical references, see “Introduction to ‘The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction.’” ↩
• ^[22] See Phyllis Healey and Alan Healey, “Greek Circumstantial Participles: Tracking Participants with Participles in the Greek New Testament,” Occasional Papers in Translation and Textlinguistics 4.3 (1990): 177-259. ↩
• ^[23] See Jan Joosten, “Varieties of Greek in the Septuagint and the New Testament,” in The New Cambridge History of the Bible (4 vols.; ed. James Carleton Paget, Joachim Schaper et al.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013-2015), 1:22-45, esp. 27; Takamitsu Muraoka, A Syntax of Septuagint Greek (Leuven: Peeters, 2016), 414. ↩