Matthew 22:42 — ExegesisTAB

The verse opens with the circumstantial participle legon {λέγων | lég-ōn} ‘saying’, which links back to the previous finite verb and introduces direct discourse. The first question begins with the interrogative Ti {Τί | Tí} in a construction with the impersonal verb dokei {δοκεῖ | do-keî}, literally “What seems to you?”, which idiomatically means “What do you think?” The preposition peri {περὶ | pe-rí} governs the genitive tou christou {τοῦ χριστοῦ | toû khris-toû} and marks “the Christ” as the precise topic under consideration. A second interrogative clause, tinos huios estin {τίνος υἱός ἐστιν | tí-nos hu-i-ós é-stin}, uses the genitive tinos ‘whose’ to ask about the lineage of the Messiah, highlighting the importance of ancestral descent. The narrative then shifts to the plural verb legousin {λέγουσιν | lé-gou-sin} ‘they say’, introducing the response directed by the dative auto {αὐτῷ | au-tôi} ‘to Him’. The answer phrase Tou Dauid {Τοῦ Δαυίδ | Toû Da-uíd} employs the genitive article with the proper name to indicate familial origin, “the son of David,” a succinct confession of Davidic Messianic expectation. In translation, the paired interrogatives are preserved as two coordinated questions, while the impersonal construction is rendered with natural English idioms for opinion and the genitive of lineage is expressed with “of David” and “David’s.”