κατὰ πολίν, Titus 1:5.

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Scott Cove
Posts: 3
Joined: November 19th, 2013, 12:34 am

κατὰ πολίν, Titus 1:5.

Post by Scott Cove »

Hi All,

Firstly, I have no idea if this belongs here or in the NT Text section (so mods, please feel free to move it if you wish).

My question is this: in Titus 1:5, Paul writes: ...ἐν Κρήτῃ ἵνα τὰ λείποντα ἐπιδιορθώσῃ, καὶ καταστήσῃς κατὰ πόλιν...

I have translated this as "in Crete, so that you might further arrange those that are lacking and appoint elders in that city", but my question is, given that κατα is in this case, most probably as a reference/respect (Wallace, 377) and that πολιν is the Singular accusitive of πολις and lacking πασαν, why do most modern translations render κατὰ πολίν as "in every city" (eg, ESV).

Doesnt πολιν directly relate to Κρήτῃ? Therefore, more correctly be "that city"?

Thanks.
Stephen Carlson
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Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
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Re: κατὰ πολίν, Titus 1:5.

Post by Stephen Carlson »

The preposition κατά is distributive here, like English per city. Also Crete is not a city but an island with several cities.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Scott Cove
Posts: 3
Joined: November 19th, 2013, 12:34 am

Re: κατὰ πολίν, Titus 1:5.

Post by Scott Cove »

Stephen Carlson wrote:The preposition κατά is distributive here, like English per city. Also Crete is not a city but an island with several cities.
Thanks, a simple check of geography would have confirmed that it is indeed distributive. I did know that Crete is an island, but simply forgot until it was pointed out.

Thanks again.
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