ἐν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἐν

   en

   in
2. sentence🔊 καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστιν προφήτης ἄτιμος εἰ μὴ ἐν τῇ πατρίδι αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τοῖς συγγενεῦσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ

   KAI E-le-gen au-TOIS ho ee-ay-SOOS HO-ti ouk ES-tin pro-PHÊ-tês A-ti-mos ei mê en têi pa-TRI-di au-TOU KAI en tois syng-ge-NEU-sin au-TOU KAI en têi oi-KI-a au-TOU

   and he was saying to them the Jesus that not is a prophet dishonored if except in the homeland of him and in the relatives of him and in the household of him

Exegesis

The exception construction ei me {εἰ μὴ | eì mē} ‘except’ governs three parallel prepositional phrases, each introduced by en {ἐν | en} ‘in’ plus a dative phrase: tē patridi autou {τῇ πατρίδι αὐτοῦ | tē patrídi autoû} ‘in his homeland’, tois suggeneusin autou {τοῖς συγγενεῦσιν αὐτοῦ | toîs suggenêúsin autoû} ‘among his relatives’, and tē oikia autou {τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτοῦ | tē oikíā autoû} ‘in his house’. The repeated structure (en + article + noun + autou) creates rhythmic parallelism and emphasizes concentric circles of familiarity: town, extended kin, and immediate household. This syntactic pattern underlines how increasing social proximity paradoxically coincides with decreasing honor for the prophet, a structure that mirrors Jesus’ own experience in His hometown and informs the choice in the dynamic rendering to express the double negative as an affirmative (“is honored everywhere except”).

Root and etymology

Root🔊 συγγενήςsigma–upsilon–gamma–gamma–epsilon–nu–ēta–sigma

“related by blood, kin”

• 🔊 συγγενήςsuggenēsrelative, kinsmanLuke 1:36