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Title -> Nicodemus Said to Him
The text is, “Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Νικόδημος πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων ὤν; μὴ δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γεννηθῆναι”
Λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> > “says’ CER* said
πρὸς -> preposition taking the accusative for its object word -> > to
αὐτὸν -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, accusative pronoun -> > him
[ὁ] -> masculine, singular, nominative article -> > the NRIEH**
Νικόδημος -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> > Nicodemus
πῶς -> interrogative particle -> > how
δύναται -> third person, singular, present, active indicative verb -> > can
ἄνθρωπος -> masculine, singular, nominative noun -> > a man
γεννηθῆναι -> aorist, passive, infinitive verb -> > be born
γέρων -> masculine, singular, nominative noun -> > an old man
ὤν -> present, participial, masculine, singular, nominative verb -> > being
μὴ -> negative particle -> > unless
δύναται -> third person, singular, present, passive, indicative verb -> > he can
εἰς -> preposition taking the accusative for its object word -> > into
τὴν -> feminine, singular, accusative article -> > the
κοιλίαν -> feminine, singular, accusative noun -> > womb
τῆς -> feminine, singular, genitive article -> > the but it is not rendered into English here
μητρὸς -> feminine, singular, genitive noun -> > mother
αὐτοῦ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, genitive pronoun -> > of his
δεύτερον -> adverb -> > a second time
εἰσελθεῖν -> aorist, indicative, infinitive verb -> > enter
καὶ -> coordinating conjunction -> > and NRIEH
γεννηθῆναι -> aorist, passive, infinitive verb -> > be born
The meaning of this verse is,
“Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born, being an old man, unless he can a second time enter the womb of his mother to be born?’”
*CER: indicates a non-literal, but good translation. In the first example here, the verb “ἔρχεται” is present tense, which in the indicative mood often can be rendered in the aorist tense, since it expresses linear action not in the present but at some point in the past. The designation CER is equivalent to “Contextual English Rendering”.
**NRIEH: For the sake of clarity the word is translated into English, but to avoid such odd constructions as applying a definite article (“the”) to a substantive sufficiently determined by its being a proper noun, or by the use of a qualifier other than the definite article. An example would be the basic translation “Peter said to the Jesus”; the word “the” is completely unnecessary. There are many examples of this in the New Testament. The designation NRIEH is equivalent to “Not Rendered Into English Here”.
Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Νικόδημος (John 3:4) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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