Matthew 20:3

Returning to the story of the vineyard owner who is hiring workers –

καί ἐξελθών . . . and having gone out

περί τρίτην ὥραν . . . around the third hour

εἶδεν ἄλλους ἑστῶτας . . . he saw others standing

ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀργούς· . . . in the marketplace idle –

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And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace  (ESV)

Notes:

In the first line above we see an example of the letter combination -ελθ-, which should lead us immediately to an aorist non-indicative form of  ἔρχομαι or a derivative.  In this case the verb is ἐξέρχομαι, ‘I go out, come out’, and ἐξέλθων is the masculine singular nominative of the aorist active participle.

Do not be fooled by the initial ‘ἐ’, which is not an augment, but part of the combining preposition ἐξ (ἐκ).

English translations use either the literal ‘third hour’ for τρίτην ὥραν, or ‘nine o’clock in the morning’.  Both τρίτην and ὥραν are in the accusative, following the preposition περί.

Περί can also be used with the genitive, in which case it means something like ‘concerning, about’.  For example,

περί Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς . . . he spoke to them concerning John the Baptist

The form ἑστῶτας is the masculine plural accusative of the perfect active participle of the verb ἵστημι.  This verb, which I believe competes for the ‘most complicated and confusing paradigms in koine’ award, can mean either ‘I stand’ (intransitive) or ‘I cause somebody or something to stand’ (transitive).  It is being used here as an intransitive.

Ἵστημι has two sets of perfect active participles, one with a ‘κ’ throughout, and one without.  Thus we have, for example, ἑστηκότες and ἑστῶτες, both perfect active participles and both masculine plural nominative.  Both of them are used intransitively.

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