Have a blessed Christmas

I'll be gone for a few days.

Remember that our Lord chose a humble birth in Bethlehem.
May we likewise choose to walk humbly.

peace,
--- marty ---

John 1:9

Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον


Ἦν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί "was"

τὸ defininte article nominative neuter singular "the"

φῶς noun nominative neuter singular "light"

τὸ definite article nominative neuter singular "the"

ἀληθινόν adjective nominative neuter singular from ἀληθινός "true"

ὃ relative pronoun "which"

φωτίζει verb present active indicative 3rd singular from φωτίζω "enlightens"

πάντα adjective accusative masculine singular from πᾶς "every"

ἄνθρωπον noun accusative masculine singular "man"

ἐρχόμενον verb present middle participle accusative singular masculine from ἔρχομαι "while coming"

εἰς preposition accusative case "into"

τὸν definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

κόσμον noun accusative masculine singular "world"

Rough Translation:

was the light the true which enlightens every man (while) coming into the world

Smooth Translation:

The true light was, which enlightens every man while coming into the world.

Note: It seems that John is communicating two things here. 1.) That the true light WAS, and, 2.)This light, coming into the world, enlightens every man. This is not so easy to get across in a translation.

John 1:8

οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ' ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός.

οὐκ negative particle "not"

ἦν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular from εἰμί "was"

ἐκεῖνος demonstrative pronoun nominative masculine singular "he"

τὸ definite article nominative neuter singular "the" (note:greekbiblestudy.org parses this as nominative, but I would call it accusative here...the form is the same. Perhaps it is just a predicate nominative. I'll do some more checking on this)

(ok, postnote: evidently when you have an "equative" verb like εἰμί the noun is a predicate nominative...something to tuck away in my grammer memory.)

φῶς noun nominative neuter singular "light"

ἀλλ' strong negative conjunction "but"

ἵνα conjunction subjunctive case "that"

μαρτυρήσῃ verb aorist active subjunctive 3rd singular from μαρτυρέω "he might testify"

περὶ prepostion with genitive "concerning"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular neuter "the"

φωτός noun genitive singular neuter "light"

Rough Translation:

not was he the light but that he might testify concerning the light

Smooth Translation:

He was not the light, but that he might testify concerning the light

John 1:7

οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι' αὐτοῦ.

οὗτος demonstrative pronoun "This one"

ἦλθεν verb aorist indicative 3rd singular from ἔρχομαι "came"

εἰς preposition "into"

μαρτυρίαν noun accusative feminine singular "testimony"

ἵνα conjunction subjunctive (the case for "possibility") "that"

μαρτυρήσῃ verb aorist active subjunctive 3rd singular from μαρτυρέω "he might testify"

περὶ prepostion with genitive "concerning"

τοῦ definite article genitive singular neuter "the"

φωτός noun genitive singular neuter "light"

ἵνα conjunction subjunctive (the case for "possibility") "that"

πάντες noun nominative masculine plural "all"

πιστεύσωσιν verb aorist active subjunctive 3rd plural from πιστεύω "they might believe"

δι' elided prepostion with genitive "through"

αὐτοῦ. pronoun genitive masculine singular "him" - note: Barrett indicates that the anticedant here is οὗτος rather than φωτός because John didn't use εἰς but δι' - we believe "in" Jesus, but "through" John.

Rough Translation:
this one came into testimony that he might testify concerning the light that all might believe through him

Smooth Translation:
This one came for testimony, that he might testify concerning the light, that all might believe through him.

John 1:6

Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης·

Ἐγένετο verb aorist middle 3rd singular from γίνομαι "came to be"

ἄνθρωπος noun nominative masculine singular "a man"

ἀπεσταλμένος verb perfect passive participle (note:"men" in the middle) from ἀποστέλλω nom masc sing "having been sent"

παρὰ preposition with genative "from"

θεοῦ noun nominative masculine singular "God"

ὄνομα noun nominative singular neuter "name"

αὐτῷ pronoun dative singular masculine "to him"

Ἰωάννης proper noun nominative singular masculine "John"


Rough Translation:
came to be a man having been sent from God, name to him John

Smooth Translation:
A man came to be, having been sent from God, named John

John 1:5

καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

καὶ conjunction "and"

τὸ definite article nominative singular neuter "the"

φῶς noun nominative singular neuter "light"

ἐν prepostion with dative "in"

τῇ definite article dative singular feminine "the"

σκοτίᾳ noun dative singular feminine "darkness"

φαίνει verb present active indicative 3rd singular from phainw "it is shining"

καὶ conjunction "and"

ἡ definite article nominative singular feminine "the"

σκοτία noun nominative singular feminine "darkness"

αὐτὸ pronoun accusative singular neuter ( refering back to φῶς) "it"

οὐ negative particle "not"

κατέλαβεν verb aorist active indicative from katalambanw "took down" or "comprehended"

Rough Translation:
and the light in the darkness it is shining and the darkness it not took down or comprehended


Smooth Translation:
And the light is shining in the darkness and the darkness did not take it down or comprehend it.

note: My smooth translation may be a little verbose, but I prefer greater clarity.

John 1:4

ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἐστιν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων

ἐν preposition dative "in"

αὐτῷ pronoun dative masculine singular "him"

ζωὴ noun nominative feminine singular "life"

ἐστιν verb present indicative 3rd singular from eimi "is"

καὶ conjunction "and"

ἡ definite article nominative feminine singular "the"

ζωὴ noun nominative feminine singular "life"

ἦν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular from eimi "was"

τὸ definite article nominative neuter singular "the"

φῶς noun nominative neuter singular "light"

τῶν definite article genative plural "the"

ἀνθρώπων noun genative masculine plural "of men"

Rough Translation:
in him life is and the life was the light the of men

Smooth Translation:
In him is life and the life was the light of men.

Comments and Questions:
Is there any significance to ἐστιν being present indicative?
Is this "historic present"? Most translations seem to treat it this way.
It is a "continuous" tense. Could John be pointing out that life is continuously in Jesus?


Note: UBS4 does not use ἐστιν here, but rather it uses ἦν, it appears that the version used by greekbiblestudy.org does.
This is a textual issue that is discussed by Wieland Wilker at http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/TCG/index.html in his pdf on John.

John 1:3

πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν ὃ γέγονεν

πάντα adjective nominative plural neuter "all (things)"

δι' preposition with genative "through or by means of"

αὐτοῦ pronoun genitive masculine singular "him"

ἐγένετο verb aorist middle indicative 3rd singular from ginomai "came into being"

καὶ conjunction "and"

χωρὶς adverb "without"

αὐτοῦ pronoun genitive singular masculine "him"

ἐγένετο verb aorist middle indicative 3rd singular from ginomai "came into being"

οὐδὲ conjuction -compound of "and not" or "not even"

ἕν number "one"

ὃ relative pronoun nomintive singular neuter "which"

γέγονεν verb perfect active indicative 3rd singular from ginomai "has come into being"

Rough Translation:
all through him came into being and without him came into being not even one which has come into being

Smooth Translation:
All things came into being through him and without him not even one thing came into being which has come into being.

John 1:2

οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

οὗτος demonstrative pronoun nominative masculine singular "this one"

ἦν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular "was"

ἐν prepostion dative "in"

ἀρχῇ noun dative feminine singular "beginning"

πρὸς propostion with accusative "with"

τὸν definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

θεόν noun accusative masculine singular "God"

Rough Translation:

This one was in beginning with God.

Smooth Translation:

This one was in the beginning with God.

Translating for a break

Over the break I'm going to be working through John's gospel one verse at a time.

For those of you who may not have noticed, www.zhubert.com is changing. Some of the great tools this site had are no longer available on the new site, but I hope they will get them back. In the mean time, I have found another site, www.greekbiblestudy.org that has some nice features for doing translations, so I thought I would try to work my way through the gospel using these tools.

I'm only going to try one verse a day because I know it will get difficult to keep up. If I miss a day, I'm not going to get all upset. Also when I say one verse a day, I am excluding the weekend, so that should amount to 5 verses a week.

For those of you who read with us this last trimester, some of this will be review at the start.

So here we go with John 1:1

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

Ἐν - preposition - dative "in"

ἀρχῇ - noun dative singular feminine "beginning"

ἦν - verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular from eimi "was"

ὁ - definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

λόγος - noun nominative masculine singular "word"

καὶ - conjunction "and"

ὁ - definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

λόγος - noun nominative masculine singular "word"

ἦν - verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular "was"

πρὸς - preposition accusative here - "with"

τὸν - definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

θεόν - noun accusative masculine singular "God"

καὶ - conjunction "and"

θεὸς - noun nominative masculine singular "God"

ἦν - verb imperfect indicative 3'rd singular "was"

ὁ - definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

λόγος - noun nominative masculine singular "word"

Rough translation:

in beginning was the word and the word was with the God and God was the word

Smooth translation:

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

It's about "him."

οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι' αὐτοῦ

Last week week looked at this verse from John 1:7 and the question came up, "Is the αὐτοῦ referring to οὗτος or to φωτός ?" In other words, is John saying that the testimony was so that all might believe through John the Baptist, or through the light?

Grammatically "this one" is masculine while "the light" is neuter and the pronoun seems like it could refer to either one as the form is the same.

I talked to Dr. R. about this and he referred to Barrett who comments that the preposition "dia" shows that "autou" must refer to John because if he was refering to "the light," or "Jesus," he would have used "eis." We believe "in" Jesus, but "through" John. This theological argument seems sound to me and points to the need for clear exegesis. Thanks, Dr. R. for profound insight.

On another note:
I won't be at Seminary today, so I hope some of you check the blog.

peace,
--- marty ---

Objectively Speaking

καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μαρτυρία ὅτι ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεός καὶ αὕτη ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν

We might translate,
"And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his son."

I was reviewing the midterm with a student on Saturday and one of the questions was a true or false about this verse in 1 John 5:11. The student had answered "true" to the question, "Is υἱῷ the indirect object?" ( I may not have the question exactly right)

I thought, "Well, its obviously in the dative case, so, yes, it must be the indirect object," but it had been marked wrong. I was at a loss to explain, and thought, well I would surely have gotten that question wrong if I had taken the test.

Then, somewhere from the deep recesses of my memory I recalled Jim saying that the dative case can be used for the indirect object AND for the object of a preposition. That is the situation we have here and it is a good example to remember. (seems I remember mistakes more than correct answers)

Perhaps that was the object of the question...

Playing the numbers

πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν ὃ γέγονεν

We were reading John 1:3 at Seminary yesterday and the question came up, "Why do we have a neuter plural subject but an aorist singular verb?"

Panta is plural, but egeneto is singular. I was going to ask Dr. Staats about this last night, but neglected to do so...sorry.

But I happened to think this morning a little about it and I wonder if it is a little like in John 10 where we have "The sheep"(plural) "hear" (singular) "the voice of me." Could panta be considered something like a collective noun in this case?

I found a little more information from a website that has an online Greek class using the Croy text. That site is (www.mythfolklore.net/bibgreek/)

6.39 Neuter Plural Subjects with Singular Verbs

You already know one unusual and important thing about neuter nouns in Greek, which is that the nominative and accusative forms are identical. This is actually true for neuter nouns in all of the Indo-European languages. You can actually see this even in English, which still has gender and case in its pronoun system:

nominative		accusative
She is standing over there.		Do you see her?
He is waiting outside.		Do you see him?
It is in the cupboard.	=	Do you see it?
They are in the yard.		Do you see them?

In addition to the "nominative=accusative" rule for neuter nouns in Greek, there is a very peculiar rule about plural neuter nouns. Sometimes a plural neuter noun will take a singular verb! This is not always the case in Biblical Greek, but you should not be surprised if you see sentences like this:

τὰ τέκνα λεγει.

The children are speaking.

This information is from: http://www.mythfolklore.net/bibgreek/croy/other/039.htm


--- marty ---

How Full is Full?

I was reading Luke 6:45 this morning and was wondering about the word "perisseumatos," so i did a word study on "perisseuma" using the tools at www.zhubert.com.

As you can see, Qoheleth did not display in the NASB from the database so I looked in my LXX which translated it, "And I said in my heart, As the event of the fool is, so shall it be to me, even to me; and to what purpose have I gained wisdom? I said moreover in my heart, This is also vanity, because the fool speaks of his abundance."

So my question is, "Are we speaking of that which spills over, an overabundance, or simply full?"

Note the Mark 8 passage where they took up what was left over.
As we fill ourselves up with God's Word, what will spill out?

Word Study

Qoheleth 2:15	Qoheleth 2:15
καὶ εἶπα ἐγὼ ἐν καρδίᾳ μου ὡς συνάντημα τοῦ ἄφρονος καί γε ἐμοὶ συναντήσεταί μοι καὶ ἵνα τί ἐσοφισάμην ἐγὼ τότε περισσὸν ἐλάλησα ἐν καρδίᾳ μου διότι ἄφρων ἐκ περισσεύματος λαλεῖ ὅτι καί γε τοῦτο ματαιότης	(NASB)
Matthew 12:34	Matthew 12:34
γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν πῶς δύνασθε ἀγαθὰ λαλεῖν πονηροὶ ὄντες ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας τὸ στόμα λαλεῖ	"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. (NASB)
Mark 8:8	Mark 8:8
καὶ ἔφαγον καὶ ἐχορτάσθησαν καὶ ἦραν περισσεύματα κλασμάτων ἑπτὰ σπυρίδας	And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. (NASB)
Luke 6:45	Luke 6:45
ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας προφέρει τὸ ἀγαθόν καὶ ὁ πονηρὸς ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ προφέρει τὸ πονηρόν ἐκ γὰρ περισσεύματος καρδίας λαλεῖ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ	"The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (NASB)
2 Corinthians 8:14	2 Corinthians 8:14
ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ τὸ ὑμῶν περίσσευμα εἰς τὸ ἐκείνων ὑστέρημα ἵνα καὶ τὸ ἐκείνων περίσσευμα γένηται εἰς τὸ ὑμῶν ὑστέρημα ὅπως γένηται ἰσότης	at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; (NASB)
2 Corinthians 8:14	2 Corinthians 8:14
ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ τὸ ὑμῶν περίσσευμα εἰς τὸ ἐκείνων ὑστέρημα ἵνα καὶ τὸ ἐκείνων περίσσευμα γένηται εἰς τὸ ὑμῶν ὑστέρημα ὅπως γένηται ἰσότης	at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; (NASB)

Any Helpful Tips?

I wonder if anyone has any helpful tips for new greek students.

Here are a few things that have helped me, maybe they will help others. It would be nice to add to this list, so please comment if you have found something helpful.

1.) The iota subscript in the Dative case. For the longest time i never noticed that in the Dative case there is always an iota in the definate article. Sometimes it's as a subscript (in the singulars) but even in the plurals it is there.

2.) The "v" in the Accusative. Kind of like the iota in the Dative.

3.) My wife came up with this one. I used to be confused between the case of the direct object and the case of the indirect object. When i am accused of something, i want to confront my accuser directly. So the accusitive case is the case of the direct object.

The indirect object is the other one, namely the dative case.

4.) I always remember Jim saying in class one day, "By the time we're done with Greek, we'll oWN genative plural." A good way to remember the Omega Nu ending on genative plural nouns.

5.) Can't sleep at night? Try running through your paradigms in your head. A great way to make the most of your time.

Got any more?

Interlinear or Not?

Is an interlinear (a bible with Greek and English both side by side) a help or a hindrance for students of Greek? Perhaps there is not a firm answer to this question, but here are a few of my own thoughts and I would welcome any discussion on this question.

I notice that when I read the New Testament with only my UBS Greek New Testament in hand that my mind seems to make a shift in focus as I try to parse and translate while I am reading. It is helpful to read with someone who is very proficient as I have found reading with Dr. Staats to force me to be more exact with my parsing and translating. If I read alone, I can tend to be lazy and "approximate" my translation. The Word of God should not be treated with laziness.

If I read with an Interlinear in hand my mind does not seem to make as complete a shift in focus and almost seems to be encouraged to "approximate" because I put a certain amount of trust in the translator of the interlinear. Sometimes, however, the interlinear will point out, as I am reading, false assumptions I might make when parsing a particular word or even a "misread" I might make. In this case, the translator becomes similar to reading with someone else.

I am wondering if an interlinear might be a help in acquiring vocabulary. I don't really have enough experience with this to answer. I am considering reading for a while with an interlinear in order to formulate an opinion.

Perhaps after I reach the place that a complete mental shift becomes automatic and parsing becomes second nature, then an interlinear would be not unlike an ongoing discussion with the interlinear translator, as I think about why they chose a particular English word or phrase while I might choose another. Until I have come that far, however, I am wanting to be cautious about over use of the interlinear to the point that it hinders my linguistic growth.

What's the Subject?

ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος

When we were reading John 1:1 and we came to the third clause after the second "kai," i was pointing out the two nominatives and said that, "the one with the article is the subject."
I was listening to a tape of Jim's class and there was one of Croy's practice sentences where there was a demonstrative pronoun used as the subject and the nominative that had the article was a predicate nominative rather than the subject.

Soooo.....maybe this is not a hard and fast rule. I'll try to do some more checking on this.