throw away what is born: Greek ῥίπτω τὰ γεννώμενα (*rhiptō ta gennōmena*). The author deliberately uses the most violent word available — ῥίπτω (*rhiptō*, 'throw, hurl') — rather than the standard Greek for infant exposure, ἐκτιθέναι (*ektithenai*). The phrase τὰ γεννώμενα (*ta gennōmena*, 'what is born') reduces the child to the bare biological event of birth — the legal category of a baby not yet claimed by its father. In Roman custom (*tollere liberos*), a newborn was placed on the ground; only if the father lifted it up did it become a person. Until that moment it was merely 'what was born' and could be disposed of without consequence. The author's compound verb τεκνογονοῦσιν (*teknogonousin*, 'bear children') has the word for 'child' — τέκνον (*teknon*) — built into it; τὰ γεννώμενα strips that word out. One verb carries family and belonging; the other carries only biology. For a divine parallel to this imagery, see Ezekiel 16:4–6, where God finds an abandoned newborn — unclaimed, lying in its own blood — and says: 'Live.'