τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου
τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἁγίου ἐστιν
When I read Mike's description of this below, I cannot answer this question - perhaps because something is flying right over my head. It sounds like with the hyperbaton, both πνεύματός and ἁγίου have weak focus. Would that also be true of the Bezae variant without hyperbaton? What is the significance of the hyperbaton in this example?
Mike Aubrey wrote:
But Mike seems to have changed his mind later:Most commonly, Y2 Hyperbaton will denote weak focus on the initial head noun with the following adjective marking an additional restriction on the head noun. This additional restriction also tends to be weak focus. The first three instances of Y2 Hyperbaton in the New Testament provide an excellent example of this combination of syntactic structure and pragmatic meaning seen below.
(1) τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου
For what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matt 1:20.
(2) ὁ λαὸς ὁ καθήμενος ἐν σκότει φῶς εἶδεν μέγα
The people who live in darkness have seen a great light. Matt 4:16
(3) καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος χεῖρα ἔχων ξηράν.
And behold, a man who had a withered hand. Matt 12:10
In these three examples, the author/speaker provides brand new information to the reader/listener. Example (50) is from the monologue of the angel to Joseph regarding the source of Mary’s pregnancy. The clause consists of the known information shared by both the Angel and Joseph: Mary is pregnant. There is a child conceived (τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν). The predicate of this clause is the completely new, non-contrastive information: the child is from the Holy Spirit (ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου).
Every other example of weak focus discontinuous phrases in our sample consists of non-subject constituents with transitive, non-existential or occurrence verbs. There are twenty-five such examples, and of these, eight use the exact same verb: ἔχω. A few representative examples are provided below.
(1) Ἢ τίς γυνὴ δραχμὰς ἔχουσα δέκα
Or there was a woman who had ten drachmas. Luke 15:8
(2) ὅτι ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ πιστὸς ἐγένου, ἴσθι ἐξουσίαν ἔχων ἐπάνω δέκα πόλεων.
Since you were trustworthy with what is small, you will have authority over ten cities. Luke 19:17
(3) Ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον
This, I write to you that you might know you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13
Does that mean that πνεύματός is less salient in the second variant? Or perhaps that ἁγίου is less salient in the first than in the second?We suggest, instead, that Y2 Hyperbaton does not necessarily denote Weak Focus on the discontinuous NP, but rather when it appears in Sentential Focused clauses (i.e. information which is asserted rather than presupposed) the Y2 structure marks a higher level of saliency upon the head noun.
τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου
τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἁγίου ἐστιν