Mark 4:8 EN...EN...EN, hEN...hEN...hEN

From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Sat Jul 18 1998 - 12:25:36 EDT


When I first read Mark 4:8 this morning, I misread it as EN...EN...EN, and
wondered how the preposition was being used. Then I looked again and saw
the rough breathing, but I also saw that there were variants supporting the
hEN reading, plus several others. When I looked at these variants, I found
I was not sure how to read some of them.

Here are the readings that my UBS 3rd mentions:

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN hEN TRIAKONTA KAI hEN EXHKONTA KAI hEN hEKATON
Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN TO hEN TRIAKONTA KAI TO hEN EXHKONTA KAI TO hEN hEKATON
Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EN TRIAKONTA KAI EN EXHKONTA KAI EN hEKATON
Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EIS TRIAKONTA KAI hEN EXHKONTA KAI hEN hEKATON
Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EIS TRIAKONTA KAI EN EXHKONTA KAI EN hEKATON

Metzger's "Textual Commentary" comments:

  The reading that predomenates in the manuscripts is EN,
  whether accented EN or hEN. In favor of the latter is
  the probability that underlying the variants was the
  Aramaic sign of multiplication ("times" or "-fold")
  ℸ&cheth;, which also is the numeral "one."

Let me see if I understand that. It seems to me that he is saying he
prefers this reading:

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN hEN TRIAKONTA KAI hEN EXHKONTA KAI hEN hEKATON

And he interprets hEN TRIAKONTA as "thirty-fold", so the phrase is "and
bearing thirty and sixty and a hundred-fold".

Now let the questions begin:

(1) Is interpreting hEN as "-fold" essential for grammatical Greek here, or
is it equally grammatical to treat the following two variants as identical?

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN hEN TRIAKONTA KAI hEN EXHKONTA KAI hEN hEKATON
Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN TO hEN TRIAKONTA KAI TO hEN EXHKONTA KAI TO hEN hEKATON

(2) If it is to be interpreted as EN rather than hEN, what usage of EN is
implied here?

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EN TRIAKONTA KAI EN EXHKONTA KAI EN hEKATON

Wouldn't it be more grammatical to say:

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EIS TRIAKONTA KAI EIS EXHKONTA KAI EIS hEKATON

(3) How is EIS...EN to be interpreted in this variant?

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EIS TRIAKONTA KAI EN EXHKONTA KAI EN hEKATON

Is this different in meaning from EIS...EIS...EIS?

(4) How is EIS...hEN to be interpreted in this variant? I'm having a hard
time making sense of it:

Mark 4:8 KAI EFEREN EIS TRIAKONTA KAI hEN EXHKONTA KAI hEN hEKATON

Thanks!

Jonathan

___________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com

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