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Friday, December 21, 2007

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 ---

Thursday, December 20, 2007

John 1:9

ν τ φς τ ληθινν, φωτζει πντα νθρωπον, ρχμενον ες τν κσμον


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

τ defininte article nominative neuter singular "the"

φς noun nominative neuter singular "light"

τ definite article nominative neuter singular "the"

ληθινν adjective nominative neuter singular from ἀληθινός "true"

relative pronoun "which"

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

πντα adjective accusative masculine singular from πᾶς "every"

νθρωπον noun accusative masculine singular "man"

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

ε
ς preposition accusative case "into"

τν definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

κσμον 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.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

John 1:8

οκ ν κενος τ φς, λλ' να μαρτυρσ περ το φωτς.


οκ negative particle "not"

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

κενος demonstrative pronoun nominative masculine singular "he"

τ 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.)

φς noun nominative neuter singular "light"

λλ' strong negative conjunction "but"

να conjunction subjunctive case "that"

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

περ prepostion with genitive "concerning"

το definite article genitive singular neuter "the"

φωτς 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






Tuesday, December 18, 2007

John 1:7

οτος λθεν ες μαρτυραν, να μαρτυρσ περ το φωτς, να πντες πιστεσωσιν δι' ατο.


οτος demonstrative pronoun "This one"

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

ες preposition "into"

μαρτυραν noun accusative feminine singular "testimony"

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

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

περ prepostion with genitive "concerning"

το definite article genitive singular neuter "the"

φωτς noun genitive singular neuter "light"

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

πντες noun nominative masculine plural "all"

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

δι' elided prepostion with genitive "through"

ατο. pronoun genitive masculine singular "him" - note: Barrett indicates that the anticedant here is οτος rather than φωτς because John didn't use ες 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.

Monday, December 17, 2007

John 1:6

γνετο νθρωπος, πεσταλμνος παρ θεο, νομα ατ ωννης·


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

νθρωπος noun nominative masculine singular "a man"

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

παρ preposition with genative "from"

θεο noun nominative masculine singular "God"

νομα noun nominative singular neuter "name"

ατ pronoun dative singular masculine "to him"

ωννης 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


Friday, December 14, 2007

John 1:5

κα τ φς ν τ σκοτίᾳ φανει, κα σκοτα ατ ο κατλαβεν.


κα conjunction "and"

τdefinite article nominative singular neuter "the"

φς noun nominative singular neuter "light"

ν prepostion with dative "in"

τ definite article dative singular feminine "the"

σκοτίᾳ noun dative singular feminine "darkness"

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

κα conjunction "and"

definite article nominative singular feminine "the"

σκοτα noun nominative singular feminine "darkness"

ατ pronoun accusative singular neuter ( refering back to φς) "it"

ο negative particle "not"

κατλαβεν 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.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

John 1:4

ν ατ ζω στιν, κα ζω ν τ φς τν νθρπων

ν preposition dative "in"

α
τ pronoun dative masculine singular "him"

ζω noun nominative feminine singular "life"

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

κα conjunction "and"

definite article nominative feminine singular "the"

ζω noun nominative feminine singular "life"

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

τ definite article nominative neuter singular "the"

φς noun nominative neuter singular "light"

τν definite article genative plural "the"

νθρπων 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
στιν 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
στιν here, but rather it uses ν, 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.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

John 1:3

πντα δι' ατο γνετο, κα χωρς ατο γνετο οδ ν γγονεν


πντα adjective nominative plural neuter "all (things)"

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

ατοῦ pronoun genitive masculine singular "him"

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

καὶ conjunction "and"

χωρς adverb "without"

ατοῦ pronoun genitive singular masculine "him"

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

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

ν number "one"

ὃ relative pronoun nomintive singular neuter "which"

γγονεν 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.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

John 1:2

οτος ν ν ρχ πρς τν θεν.


οτος demonstrative pronoun nominative masculine singular "this one"

ν verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular "was"

ν prepostion dative "in"

ρχῇ noun dative feminine singular "beginning"

πρς propostion with accusative "with"

τν definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

θεν noun accusative masculine singular "God"

Rough Translation:

This one was in beginning with God.

Smooth Translation:

This one was in the beginning with God.


Monday, December 10, 2007

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

ν ρχ ν λγος, κα λγος ν πρς τν θεν, κα θες ν λγος.

ν - preposition - dative "in"

ρχῇ - noun dative singular feminine "beginning"

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

ὁ - definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

λγος - noun nominative masculine singular "word"

καὶ - conjunction "and"

ὁ - definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

λγος - noun nominative masculine singular "word"

ν - verb imperfect indicative 3rd singular "was"

πρς - preposition accusative here - "with"

τν - definite article accusative masculine singular "the"

θεν - noun accusative masculine singular "God"

καὶ - conjunction "and"

θες - noun nominative masculine singular "God"

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

- definite article nominative masculine singular "the"

λγος - 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.