ἦσαν ὁμοῦ Σίμων Πέτρος καὶ Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος (John 21:2)

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Title:  And Together Were Simon Peter and Thomas, the one Called Didymus

The text is, “ἦσαν ὁμοῦ Σίμων Πέτρος καὶ Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος καὶ Ναθαναὴλ ὁ ἀπὸ Κανὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ οἱ τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου καὶ ἄλλοι ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ δύο”.

ἦσαν -> third person, plural, imperfect, indicative verb -> there were

ὁμοῦ -> adverb of place -> together

Σίμων -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Simon

Πέτρος -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Peter

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

Θωμᾶς -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Thomas

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

λεγόμενος -> present, passive, participial, masculine, singular, nominative verb -> one being called

Δίδυμος -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Didymus

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

Ναθαναὴλ -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Nathanael

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

ἀπὸ -> preposition taking the genitive for its object word -> of

Κανὰ -> feminine, singular, genitive, proper noun -> Cana

τῆς -> feminine, singular, genitive article -> the NRIEH

Γαλιλαίας -> masculine, singular, genitive, proper noun -> of Galilee

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

οἱ -> masculine, plural, genitive article -> the NRIEH

τοῦ -> masculine, singular, genitive article -> the NRIEH

Ζεβεδαίου -> masculine, singular, genitive, proper noun -> of Zebedee

καὶ -> coordinating additive conjunction -> and

ἄλλοι -> masculine, plural, nominative, demonstrative adjective -> others

ἐκ -> preposition taking the genitive for its object word -> of

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

μαθητῶ ν -> masculine, plural, genitive noun -> disciples

αὐτοῦ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, genitive pronoun -> his

δύο -> masculine, plural, nominative, cardinal adjective -> two

The meaning of this verse is,

And together were Simon Peter and Thomas, the one being called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, and of Zebedee**, and two others of his disciples.

*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”.

**Some clarification is in order here, as the translation fails to identify anything as “belonging” to Zebedee, leaving only “of Zebedee” in the text. The combination of “οἱ”, a masculine, plural, genitive article, followed by “τοῦ”, a masculine, singular, genitive article, neither article denoting anything which it makes definite, is rendered as “the sons” in many English translations, and that serves in a not disturbing way to identify what exactly it is that is, or who exactly they are, “of Zebedee”.  James and John, whom we take to be these “two disciples” are identified in Matthew 10:35 and Mark 3:17 as “sons of Zebedee”.

ἦσαν ὁμοῦ Σίμων Πέτρος καὶ Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος (John 21:2) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.