One last question for this round:
I have a question on John 16.23: “καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε οὐδέν·”
I would like to know if the position of “ἐμὲ” lends a particular emphasis to the word or if that is the normal position for a direct object.
If there is no particular emphasis, it would seem to mean that in that day the disciples will simply not ask. If there is a special emphasis, perhaps the idea is that they will ask, but not to Jesus. The following sentence seems to support this: “ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἄν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.”
Thank you,
Thomas Hagen
John 16.23: ἐμὲ
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This is a beginner's forum - see the Koine Greek forum for more advanced discussion of Greek texts. Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up.
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Re: John 16.23: ἐμὲ
I do think (again, IMO) that ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε has a bit more emphasis on the object than does οὐκ ἐρωτήσετέ με.tghagen wrote: ↑May 29th, 2025, 4:04 pm One last question for this round:
I have a question on John 16.23: “καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε οὐδέν·”
I would like to know if the position of “ἐμὲ” lends a particular emphasis to the word or if that is the normal position for a direct object.
If there is no particular emphasis, it would seem to mean that in that day the disciples will simply not ask. If there is a special emphasis, perhaps the idea is that they will ask, but not to Jesus. The following sentence seems to support this: “ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἄν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.”
Thank you,
Thomas Hagen
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
Re: John 16.23: ἐμὲ
It necessarily does. The form με is enclitic and doesn't have an accent. You can't emphasize words that don't have accents. Accentual stress is the method for communicating emphasis. That said: "emphasis" is a really slippery word that we should probably move away from. Sentence stress can mark a number of different communicative functions are get grouped under "emphasis", such as topicality, assertion/focus, and contrast.Jason Hare wrote: ↑May 29th, 2025, 7:47 pmI do think (again, IMO) that ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε has a bit more emphasis on the object than does οὐκ ἐρωτήσετέ με.tghagen wrote: ↑May 29th, 2025, 4:04 pm One last question for this round:
I have a question on John 16.23: “καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε οὐδέν·”
I would like to know if the position of “ἐμὲ” lends a particular emphasis to the word or if that is the normal position for a direct object.
If there is no particular emphasis, it would seem to mean that in that day the disciples will simply not ask. If there is a special emphasis, perhaps the idea is that they will ask, but not to Jesus. The following sentence seems to support this: “ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἄν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.”
Thank you,
Thomas Hagen
There once was a man named *John* (stress = assertion/focus).
*John* (stress = topic) was from Chicago.
John's roommate *Steve* (stress = contrast) was a librarian.
Mike Aubrey, Linguist
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com