ἐγεννήθη

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἐγεννήθη

   e-ge-NNÊ-thē

   he was born
2. sentence🔊 ὅτι ὁ μὲν υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑπάγει καθὼς γέγραπται περὶ αὐτοῦ οὐαὶ δὲ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ διʼ οὗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου παραδίδοται καλὸν αὐτῷ εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος

   HO-ti ho MEN hy-OS tou an-THRŌ-pou hy-PA-gei ka-THŌS GE-gra-ptai pe-RI au-TOU ou-AI de tōi an-THRŌ-pōi e-KEI-nōi di hou ho hy-OS tou an-THRŌ-pou pa-ra-DI-do-tai ka-LON au-TŌi ei ouk e-ge-NNÊ-thē ho AN-thrō-pos e-KEI-nos

   for the indeed son of the man goes just as it has been written about him woe but to the man that through whom the son of the man is betrayed good for him if not he was born the man that

Exegesis

The closing clause kalon autō ei ouk egennēthē ho anthrōpos ekeinos {καλὸν αὐτῷ εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος | ka-lón au-tô ei ouk e-gen-nḗ-thē ho án-thrō-pos e-kei-nos} is an idiomatic conditional expression: the predicate adjective kalon ‘good’ plus dative autō ‘for him’ forms the main assertion, while ei with the aorist passive egennēthē ‘was born’ expresses a contrary-to-fact condition (‘if that man had not been born’). English requires reordering to make the condition explicit and to differentiate clearly between the divine necessity of the Son of Man’s suffering and the severe culpability of the betrayer.