Mt.28:7 ἰδού, εἶπον ὑμῖν.

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Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Mt.28:7 ἰδού, εἶπον ὑμῖν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

At the end of what it is saying, the angel sitting on top of the rolled away stone says
Matthew 28:7 wrote:ἰδού, εἶπον ὑμῖν.
What is the the force of that? The possible senses that could fit the context might include:
  • Okay, that's all I've got to say.
  • That was a revelation, and you heard it from an angel.
  • You need to do something, (because) now you know it.
  • Snap out of it / this is real, I am here talking to you.
I find this easy to translate using archaic language (like as if the angel was trying to sound like a LXX quotation), but hard to understand.

What type of language is it? Is it part of everyday speech, part of the language of visions and revelations, an implied injunction, or the language of confronting somebody?

Compare the following phrases:
Looking forward to something that will happen, and the information comes before this phrase, but the thing hasn't happened:
Matthew 24:25 wrote:Ἰδού, προείρηκα ὑμῖν.
When what is revealed comes after the phrase, perhaps regardless of whether the thing told has already happened or not:
Ἰδού, μυστήριον ὑμῖν λέγω· πάντες μὲν οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα,
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Tony Pope
Posts: 134
Joined: July 14th, 2011, 6:20 pm

Re: Mt.28:7 ἰδού, εἶπον ὑμῖν.

Post by Tony Pope »

Nick Bailey discusses the various uses of ἰδού in glorious detail in chapter 6 of his PhD dissertation. He has some discussion of Matt 24.25 and 28.7 on p. 365.

http://dare.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/1871/15504/4/4727.pdf
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Mt.28:7 ἰδού, εἶπον ὑμῖν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

1 Corinthians 15:51 (which I neglected to post the reference for) is mentioned on pages 363, 370, 376.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
S Walch
Posts: 281
Joined: June 13th, 2011, 4:27 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Mt.28:7 ἰδού, εἶπον ὑμῖν.

Post by S Walch »

Just as a quick FYI, it appears that "ειπον υμιν" only really appears on the lips of Jesus himself, bar one location in Matt 28:7 and John 9:27, and only in Matt and John: Matt 16:11; John 3:12, 6:36, 10:25, 14:26, 28, 15:20, 16:4, 18:8.
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