τοὺς

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 τοὺς

   tous

   the {ones}
2. sentence🔊 Ἀσπάσασθε Ἡρῳδίωνα τὸν συγγενῆ μου Ἀσπάσασθε τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ναρκίσσου τοὺς ὄντας ἐν κυρίῳ.

   a-SPA-sa-sthe hê-rō-DI-o-na ton syng-ge-NÊ mou a-SPA-sa-sthe tous ek tôn nar-KIS-sou tous ON-tas en ky-RI-ō

   Greet Herodion the kinsman my Greet the {ones} from of the Narcissus the {ones} being in the Lord

Exegesis

The second clause has a more complex object: tous ek tōn Narkissou {τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ναρκίσσου | toús ek tōn Narkíssou} combines the accusative article with the preposition ek plus the genitive, yielding the sense ‘those from the people of Narcissus’, an idiom for members of his household or group.

This is then restricted by the participial phrase tous ontas en Kyriō {τοὺς ὄντας ἐν Κυρίῳ | toús óntas en Kyríō}, an accusative substantival participle functioning attributively, so that only those household members who are presently ‘in the Lord’ are greeted. The repeated tous before ontas creates a clear delimiting structure, emphasizing that Paul’s concern is specifically for the believers within that household. In English, the two imperatives are preserved for rhetorical parallelism, while the participial construction is rendered as a relative clause (“who are in the Lord”) to maintain clarity and the restrictive force of the Greek syntax.

Root and etymology

Root🔊 σύνsyn-

“fellow prisoners”