Re: EPI TO AUTO

Davis Phillips (dphil@mail.utexas.edu)
Thu, 30 May 1996 10:30:19 -0500

James H. Vellenga wrote:
>I have run across the Greek idiom EPI TO AUTO three times in
>Acts 2. Most translations translate it as some variety of
>"together".
>Can anyone give me a sense of the differences in flavor between
>hOMOU, EPI TO AUTO, and SUN?
>
WELL, HERE ARE SOME COMMENTS ABOUT 'EPI TO AUTO'

The phrase EPI TO AUTO appears in the Greek NT in these places.
Mt 22:34
Lu 17:35
Ac 1:15
Ac 2:1
Ac 2:44
Ac 3:1
Ac 4:26
1Co 7:5
1Co 11:20
1Co 14:23

I also scanned thru a text of the LXX and found there are several dozen
occurrences.

The meaning seems in these instances to be: (1) (location) "to the same
place" or "at the same place" or "on the same spot", as when armies gather
together, or leaders meet together to talk, (2) "for the same purpose" ,
"for the same thing" or something like that (where the "place" or object is
more abstract, less tangible as a literal place.

e.g., Luke 17:35, where RSV says "two women grinding together", but NASB
and Richmond Lattimore both translate "two women grinding at the same
place" and all three translate Acts 2:1 "they were all together in one
place" [which is the SAME place].

Davis Phillips, Senior Systems Analyst, College of Liberal Arts
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 USA
Internet: dphil@mail.utexas.edu
Phone: (512) 471-4141 FAX: (512) 471-4518