γενεά,
-ᾶς,
ἡ, (
ΓΕΝΩ,
γίνομαι [cf. Curtius, p. 610]);
Sept. often for
דּוֹר; in Greek writings from Homer down;
1. a begetting, birth, nativity: Herodotus 3, 33; Xenophon, Cyril 1, 2, 8, etc.; [others make the collective sense the primary significance, see Curtius as above].
2. passively,
that which has been begotten, men of the same stock, a family;
a. properly, as early as Homer; equivalent to
מִשְׁפָּחַה,
Genesis 31:3, etc.
σῴζειν Ῥαχάβην κ.
τὴν γενεὰν αὐτῆς, Josephus, Antiquities 5, 1, 5.
the several ranks in a natural descent, the successive members of a genealogy:
Matthew 1:17, (
ἑβδόμη γενεὰ οὗτός ἐστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου, Philo, vit. Moys.
i. § 2).
b. metaphorically,
a race of men very like each other in endowments, pursuits, character; and especially in a bad sense
a perverse race:
Matthew 17:17;
Mark 9:19;
Luke 9:41;
Luke 16:8; [
Acts 2:40].
3. the whole multitude of men living at the same time:
Matthew 24:34;
Mark 13:30;
Luke 1:48 (
πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί);
Luke 21:32;
Philippians 2:15; used especially of the Jewish race living at one and the same period:
Matthew 11:16;
Matthew 12:39,
41f,
45;
Matthew 16:4;
Matthew 23:36;
Mark 8:12,
38;
Luke 11:29f,
32,
50;
Luke 17:25;
Acts 13:36;
Hebrews 3:10;
ἄνθρωποι τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης,
Luke 7:31;
ἄνδρες τῆς γεν.
ταύ.,
Luke 11:31;
τὴν δὲ γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται, who can describe the wickedness of the present generation,
Acts 8:33 (from
Isaiah 53:8 Sept.) [but cf. Meyer, at the passage].
4. an age (i. e. the time ordinarily occupied by each successive generation), the space of from 30 to 33 years (Herodotus 2, 142, and others; Heraclitus in Plutarch, def. orac. c. 11), or
ὁ χρόνος,
ἐν ᾧ γεννῶντα παρέχει τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένον ὁ γεννήσας (Plutarch, the passage cited); in the
N. T. common in plural:
Ephesians 3:5 [Winers Grammar, § 31, 9 a.; Buttmann, 186 (161)];
παρῳχημέναις γενεαῖς in ages gone by,
Acts 14:16;
ἀπὸ τῶν γενεῶν for ages, since the generations began,
Colossians 1:26;
ἐκ γενεῶν ἀρχαίων from the generations of old, from ancient times down,
Acts 15:21;
εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν unto generations of generations, through all ages, forever (a phrase which assumes that the longer ages are made up of shorter; see
αἰών, 1 a.):
Luke 1:50 R L (
דּוֹרִים לְדוֹר,
Isaiah 51:8);
εἰς γενεὰς κ.
γενεάς unto generations and generations, ibid. T Tr WH equivalent to
וָדוֹר לְדוֹר,
Psalm 89:2;
Isaiah 34:17; very often in the
Sept.; [add,
εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς τοῦ αἰῶνος τῶν αἰώνων,
Ephesians 3:21, cf. Ellicott at the passage] (
γενεά is used of a century in
Genesis 15:16, cf. Knobel at the passage, and on the senses of the word see the full remarks of Keim, iii. 206 [v. 245 English translation]).
THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database.
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