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2 Peter 3:5 (also cp. 2 Peter 3:8)

Posted: April 12th, 2012, 2:24 pm
by Mike Baber
λανθάνει γὰρ αὐτοὺς τοῦτο θέλοντας ὅτι οὐρανοὶ ἦσαν ἔκπαλαι καὶ γῆ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ δι’ ὕδατος συνεστῶσα τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ

It seems to me that τοῦτο ("this") is the subject (neut. nom.) and αὐτοὺς ("they [themselves]") is the direct object (masc. acc.).

Here's the A.V.:
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:


1.
λανθάνει is conjugated in the 3rd person, present tense, active voice, indicative mood, singular number. In the A.V.'s translation, it appears that the subject of the verb is "they," which would be the plural αὐτοὺς. This doesn't seem right to me. How about anyone else?

2.
θέλοντας is masc. acc. plural, so it appears to modify αὐτοὺς which is fine.

The same phenomenon (#1) appears to happen in 2 Peter 3:8:

Ἓν δὲ τοῦτο μὴ λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς ἀγαπητοί

which the A.V. translates as,
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing
λανθανέτω is 3rd person sing. imperative. But, the A.V. translates it as though the imperative is 2nd person plur.

Any thoughts?

Re: 2 Peter 3:5 (also cp. 2 Peter 3:8)

Posted: April 12th, 2012, 3:00 pm
by Ken M. Penner
Read the lexica on λανθάνω. BDAG has "λανθάνει τί τινα someth. is hidden from someone, escapes someone’s notice"

Re: 2 Peter 3:5 (also cp. 2 Peter 3:8)

Posted: April 12th, 2012, 3:07 pm
by Mike Baber
I agree. To me, the KJV translation seems wrong, but I guess they just found a different way to express the idea. "They are ignorant of this" to express the idea "This is hidden from them."