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Mark 14:8 syntax

Posted: November 30th, 2023, 11:51 am
by Mitch Tulloch
ὃ ἔσχεν ἐποίησεν· προέλαβεν μυρίσαι τὸ σῶμά μου εἰς τὸν ἐνταφιασμόν.

In particular the two successive aorists in ὃ ἔσχεν ἐποίησεν. I can't understand the syntax here. What's the role of ἔσχεν here? Which verb is ὃ the object of?

And if you ignore the (later addition of) punctuation you've got three aorists and an infinitive all in a row. That's weird!

Can anyone here explain what's going on here grammatically?

Thanks!
--Mitch

Re: Mark 14:8 syntax

Posted: November 30th, 2023, 2:18 pm
by Jean Putmans
o = Acc.Obj. of εποιησεν

εσχεν : supply ποιησαι

εχω + Inf. = be able to do; have to do (BDAG)

She was able to do, what she did > she did, what she was able to do
or
she had to do, what she did

(with help of the late Mr. Rodney Decker , Mark 9-16, Baylor: A Handbook of the Greek Text: These books are really worth every single penny!)

Re: Mark 14:8 syntax

Posted: November 30th, 2023, 2:47 pm
by Eeli Kaikkonen
For some reason I find Jean's answer difficult to "parse", and I don't think I agree. In my opinion it's more simple: [ὃ ἔσχεν] [ἐποίησεν] i.e. "that which she had (=within her possibilities to do), she did".

Would it have been easier to understand with a comma, "ὃ ἔσχεν, ἐποίησεν"?

Re: Mark 14:8 syntax

Posted: November 30th, 2023, 5:19 pm
by Mitch Tulloch
Eeli thank you, that makes sense!

--Mitch