Turning Greek Prayers into Prayers in Greek

How can I learn to express my ideas in clear and intelligible Greek?
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EdenMcGorlick
Posts: 6
Joined: November 25th, 2014, 11:41 pm

Turning Greek Prayers into Prayers in Greek

Post by EdenMcGorlick »

This is a beginning attempt to switch the form of one of Paul's prayers in Colossians into a prayer in the first person. I'm hoping that learning to do this will lead to greater interaction with the Greek text, a better fluency with the portions of scripture that I read, and am wondering if praying in Greek could be a helpful addition to the goal of internalising the language as much as possible. The passage is taken from Col 1:9-10. Corrections very welcome!

Πάτερ,
κατὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαν τοῦ Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοὐ,
προσευχόμεθα σοὶ καὶ αἰτούμεν
ἵνα πληρωθῶμεν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ θελήματος σοῦ ἐν πάσῃ σοφὶα καὶ συνέσει πνευματικῇ
ἵνα περιπατήσωμεν ἀξίως τοῦ κυρίου εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρεσκείαν καὶ καρποφορῶμεν ἐν παντὶ ἔργω ἀγαθῷ αὐξανόμενοι τῇ ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ θεοῦ.
Eden S. McGorlick
Stirling Bartholomew
Posts: 1141
Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: Turning Greek Prayers into Prayers in Greek

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Is the expression προσευχόμεθα σοὶ or προσεύχομαι σοι found in NT or LXX?

Wondering what the earliest date is on expressions like: Προσεύχομαι σοι ο Θεός, Προσεύχομαι σοι Κύριε! etc.

Is. 45:14 Οὕτως λέγει κύριος σαβαωθ Ἐκοπίασεν Αἴγυπτος καὶ ἐμπορία Αἰθιόπων, καὶ οἱ Σεβωιν ἄνδρες ὑψηλοὶ ἐπὶ σὲ διαβήσονται καὶ σοὶ ἔσονται δοῦλοι καὶ ὀπίσω σου ἀκολουθήσουσιν δεδεμένοι χειροπέδαις καὶ προσκυνήσουσίν σοι καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται, ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ θεός ἐστιν, καὶ ἐροῦσιν Οὐκ ἔστιν θεὸς πλὴν σοῦ·

Luke 18:11 ὁ Φαρισαῖος σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ταῦτα προσηύχετο· ὁ θεός, εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅρπαγες, ἄδικοι, μοιχοί, ἢ καὶ ὡς οὗτος ὁ τελώνης·

These examples are not equal to Προσεύχομαι σοι ο Θεός.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
EdenMcGorlick
Posts: 6
Joined: November 25th, 2014, 11:41 pm

Re: Turning Greek Prayers into Prayers in Greek

Post by EdenMcGorlick »

Good point. I did a search in the NT/LXX and προσεύχομαι seems to be used only to describe prayer, and not as part of the content. Psalm 5 seemed to be as close as it gets but it is still descriptive.

πρόσχες τῇ φωνῇ τῆς δεήσεώς μου,
ὁ βασιλεύς μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου.
ὅτι πρὸς σὲ προσεύξομαι, κύριε·

Thanks for commenting.
Eden S. McGorlick
Paul-Nitz
Posts: 497
Joined: June 1st, 2011, 4:19 am
Location: Sussex, Wisconsin

Re: Turning Greek Prayers into Prayers in Greek

Post by Paul-Nitz »

προσευχομαι has the idea of offering prayers, rather than praying/asking.

We can say προσευχομαι alone, or
ευχομαι προς θεον, or
προσευχη προς θεον

Judging from an entry on ευχομαι in LSJ, I think προσευχομαι σοι would give the sense of "I am praying on your behalf" (though it NT it is consistently υπερ τινος).

So, maybe...
προσευχομεθα προς σε και αιτοῦμεθα...
Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
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