Χειμων in John 10.22
Posted: July 21st, 2014, 5:57 pm
Good afternoon,
I have a question about the translation of the word χειμων in John 10.22. NRSV, AB, and virtually all of the others I've consulted give it as "winter," and my Bauer lexicon concurs as "season of bad weather, i.e. winter," which is his second definition. The first is "stormy, bad weather." (This is paraphrase, I don't have the book right here to hand.)
It seems to me that the first definition actually makes more sense. John has already told us that it is the Feast of Dedication (i.e. Hanukkah) which his readers would surely know falls in the wintertime. He notes in the following verse that Jesus and his disciples are walking in the portico of Solomon -- where one might possibly be covered from a rainstorm. To my uneducated eyes, "stormy" makes more sense.
So, my question is, what am I missing? Is there something in the text that I'm not seeing that makes winter the preferable translation. Is it just a sense of how this word is commonly used elsewhere, or is there more?
Thanks for any and all insights,
David
I have a question about the translation of the word χειμων in John 10.22. NRSV, AB, and virtually all of the others I've consulted give it as "winter," and my Bauer lexicon concurs as "season of bad weather, i.e. winter," which is his second definition. The first is "stormy, bad weather." (This is paraphrase, I don't have the book right here to hand.)
It seems to me that the first definition actually makes more sense. John has already told us that it is the Feast of Dedication (i.e. Hanukkah) which his readers would surely know falls in the wintertime. He notes in the following verse that Jesus and his disciples are walking in the portico of Solomon -- where one might possibly be covered from a rainstorm. To my uneducated eyes, "stormy" makes more sense.
So, my question is, what am I missing? Is there something in the text that I'm not seeing that makes winter the preferable translation. Is it just a sense of how this word is commonly used elsewhere, or is there more?
Thanks for any and all insights,
David