Re: John 2.4

DrJDPrice@aol.com
Tue, 12 Mar 1996 19:55:57 -0500

In a message dated 96-03-12 02:45:44 EST, Richard Arthur wrote:

> In John 2.4, Jesus has some querulous remarks to make to his mother: TI
>EMOI KAI COI, GYNAI . . . . Although Walter Bauer says that the vocative
>GYNAI "is by no means a disrespectful form of address,
<snip>
> But could someone provide me with a decent (non-confrontational)
>translation of John 2.4?
> Richard Arthur Merrimack NH LISATIA@aol.com
>
>

I have long suspected that this is a Hebraism. The Hebrew NT renders this as
*mah-liy walak 'ishah* which literally would be "What is there to me and you,
woman?" But this is a Hebrew idiom for "What would you have of me, woman?"
This was a polite way of saying "What would you have me do, woman?"
I suspect that there are many more Hebraisms in the NT than we realize.
James D. Price
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James D. Price, Ph.D.
Prof. of Hebew and OT
Temple Baptist Seminary
Chattanooga, TN 37404
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