Οὔσης οὖν ὀψίας τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μιᾷ σαββάτων καὶ τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων (John 20:19)

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Title:  So Being Evening the First Day That Week and The Doors Having Been Locked

The text is, “Οὔσης οὖν ὀψίας τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μιᾷ σαββάτων καὶ τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων ὅπου ἦσαν οἱ μαθηταὶ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν”.

Οὔσης -> present, participial, feminine, singular, genitive verb -> being

οὖν -> coordinating inferential conjunction -> so

ὀψίας -> feminine, singular, genitive noun -> evening

τῇ -> feminine, singular, dative article -> the NRIEH*

ἡμέρᾳ -> feminine, singular, dative noun -> day

ἐκείνῃ -> feminine, singular, dative, demonstrative pronoun -> that

τῇ -> feminine, singular, dative article -> the

μιᾷfeminine, singular, dative, cardinal adjective -> first

σαββάτων -> neuter, plural, genitive noun -> week

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

τῶν -> feminine, plural, genitive article -> the

θυρῶν -> feminine, plural, genitive noun -> doors

κεκλεισμένων -> perfect, passive, participial, feminine, plural, genitive verb -> having been locked

ὅπου -> adverb of place -> where

ἦσαν -> third person, perfect, imperfect, indicative verb -> were

οἱ -> masculine, plural, nominative article -> the

μαθηταὶ -> masculine, plural, nominative noun -> disciples

διὰ -> preposition taking the accusative for its object word -> because of

τὸν -> masculine, singular, accusative article -> the

φόβον -> masculine, singular, accusative noun -> fear

τῶν -> masculine, plural, genitive article -> of the

Ἰουδαίων -> masculine, plural, genitive, proper noun -> Jews

ἦλθεν -> third person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> came

ὁ -> masculine, singular, nominative article -> the NRIEH

Ἰησοῦς -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Jesus

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

ἔστη -> third person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> stood

εἰς -> preposition taking the accusative for its object word -> in

τὸ -> neuter, singular, accusative article -> the

μέσον -> neuter, singular, accusative noun -> midst

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> says CER** said

αὐτοῖς -> third person, personal, masculine, plural, accusative pronoun -> to them

εἰρήνη -> feminine, singular, nominative noun -> peace

ὑμῖν -> second person, personal, plural, dative pronoun -> to you

The meaning of this verse is,

So being evening the first day that week, and the doors having been locked where the disciples were because of the fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said, “Peace to you.”

**CER:  indicates a non-literal, but good translation.  In the first example here, the verb “λέγει” 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”.

Οὔσης οὖν ὀψίας τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μιᾷ σαββάτων καὶ τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων (John 20:19) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.