Re: 2 Tim 1.12--subjective or objective genitive?

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Jan 02 1999 - 13:32:59 EST


At 12:26 PM -0500 1/2/99, Perry L. Stepp wrote:
>Re. the phrase THN PARAQHKHN MOU in 2 Tim 1.12: what are the ins and outs of
>translating it as an objective genitive ("he is able to keep the things
>entrusted to me") rather than a subjective genitive ("he is able to keep the
>things I've entrusted to him")? I've seen it translated both ways in
>English Bibles, usually with a footnote offering the other translation as an
>alternative.

I'm not sure that this question is decidable in any absolute terms: you
have to make your own judgment in terms of the context. Grammatically
speaking, "subjective genitive" and "objective genitive" are just the names
we give to ordinary adnominal genitives attached to nouns of verbal sense.
I would only add that I personally think the "subjective" reading of a
postpositive genitive personal pronoun is more common and perhaps more
natural: "what I have entrusted" rather than "what has been entrusted to
me."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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