Re: Jo 19:25

From: Steven Craig Miller (scmiller@www.plantnet.com)
Date: Mon Oct 18 1999 - 11:18:08 EDT


<x-flowed>To: Wieland Willker,

<< Jo 19:25 EISTHKEISAN DE PARA TWi STAURWi TOU IHSOU H MHTHR AUTOU KAI H
ADELFH THS MHTROS AUTOU MARIA H TOU KLWPA KAI MARIA H MAGDALHNH >>

Since there is no KAI before the first MARIA, it is possible to translates
this passage three different ways:

(a) "And standing near Jesus' cross were his mother, and his mother's
sister, that is: Clopas' Mary and Mary Magdalene" (thus there were only two
women);

(b) "And standing near Jesus' cross were his mother, and his mother's
sister, that is Clopas' Mary, and Mary Magdalene" (thus there were only
three women);

and (c) "And standing near Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's
sister, Clopas' Mary and Mary Magdalene" (thus there were four women).

The grammatical question is why was the KAI omitted before the first MARIA?
One obvious place to look for NT examples is the list of the 12 in the
Synoptics. At Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16 one finds a KAI before every
name (except the first). Thus with a series of 12 names, one finds KAI
eleven times. But at Mt 10:1-4, things are different. The first four names
has KAI three times, but after that the names are listed in pairs, with a
KAI joining the paired names, but no KAI joining the pairs, so that we
have: "Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James
son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot
..." Similarly, at Acts 1:13b, the first three names are joined together
with two KAIs, but the following names are paired off. What does this
prove? It shows that it is very possible to read John 19:25 as two sets of
pairs, listing four women: the two sister and the two Marys.

I will also note that here DE might mean "on the other hand," (note the MEN
with hOI MEN OUN STRATIWTAI TAUTA EPOIHSAN).

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller@www.plantnet.com

 From Luther's Large Catechism: "Why, do you think, is the world now so
full of unfaithfulness, shame, misery, and murder? It is because everyone
wishes to be his or her own master, be free from all authority, care
nothing for anyone, and do whatever he or she pleases. So God punishes one
knave by means of another" (BoC 386.154).

---
B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu

</x-flowed>



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:43 EDT