τῶν

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 τῶν

   TÔN

   of the
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων,

   HO-ti oi-ko-do-MEI-te TOUS TA-phous TÔN pro-phê-TÔN KAI kos-MEI-te TA mnê-MEI-a TÔN di-KAI-ÔN

   because you build the tombs of the prophets and you adorn the monuments of the righteous
3. sentence🔊 Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων,

   oo-AI hy-MIN gram-ma-TEIS KAI pha-ri-SAI-oi hy-po-kri-TAI HO-ti oi-ko-do-MEI-te TOUS TA-phous TÔN pro-phê-TÔN KAI kos-MEI-te TA mnê-MEI-a TÔN di-KAI-ÔN

   Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because you build the tombs of the prophets and you adorn the monuments of the righteous

Exegesis

Each verb governs a direct object with a dependent genitive phrase: tous taphous tōn prophētōn {τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν | toùs tá-phous tôn pro-phē-tôn} ‘the tombs of the prophets’ and ta mnēmeia tōn dikaiōn {τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων | tà mnē-meî-a tôn di-kaí-on} ‘the monuments of the righteous’. The genitives tōn prophētōn and tōn dikaiōn identify whose resting places are being honored, implicitly recalling Israel’s history of persecuting these very figures. The absence of an additional conjunction between the two verb–object units highlights their parallelism and strengthens the rhetorical force: external honor shown to the dead contrasts with the inner disposition of the living accusers in the wider context. In translation, this parallel structure is preserved through matching verbal forms (“build … adorn” / “construct … decorate”) and coordinated objects, maintaining the causal flow introduced by “because/for” to reflect the Greek subordination.

Root and etymology

phoneuō🔊 φονεύωpho-neú-ō

“to kill, murder”

• 🔊 φονεύςpho-neúsmurdererActs 3:14
• 🔊 φονεύωpho-neú-ōto murderJames 2:11