Abbott-Smith suggests that ποία here is a form of πόα: grass, herb. For the above verse, it says: "James 4:14 (where, however, it is usually taken to be fem. of ποῖος; but v. MM, xx)."James 4:13-15 wrote:Ἄγε νῦν οἱ λέγοντες· Σήμερον ἢ αὔριον πορευσόμεθα εἰς τήνδε τὴν πόλιν καὶ ποιήσομεν ἐκεῖ ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ ἐμπορευσόμεθα καὶ κερδήσομεν· οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τὸ τῆς αὔριον ποία ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν· ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστε ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη, ἔπειτα καὶ ἀφανιζομένη· ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς· Ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ, καὶ ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομεν τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο.
OK, that caught me by surprise, I had assumed it was a feminine of ποῖος, but here are some places it has that meaning:
Malachi 3:2 wrote:καὶ τίς ὑπομενεῖ ἡμέραν εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ ἢ τίς ὑποστήσεται ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ αὐτοῦ διότι αὐτὸς εἰσπορεύεται ὡς πῦρ χωνευτηρίου καὶ ὡς πόα πλυνόντων
OK, so I assumed he was right. Then I checked BDAG, and saw this:Jeremiah 2:22 wrote:ἐὰν ἀποπλύνῃ ἐν νίτρῳ καὶ πληθύνῃς σεαυτῇ πόαν κεκηλίδωσαι ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις σου ἐναντίον ἐμοῦ λέγει κύριος
In ποῖος (1aγ), Danker tells us this is to be taken as an indirect question, not a direct question (which would be (1aβ)).BDAG wrote:ποία ... grass, herb, weed; this meaning was formerly assumed at tmies for Js 4:14 Exp. 7th ser, 10, 566); but ποία in that passage is better taken as the fem. of ποῖος (1aγ). -- DELG s.f. πόα. M-M.
Here is an example of this usage in a direct question:
Here is an example of this usage in an indirect question:Luke 6:32 wrote:Καὶ εἰ ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας ὑμᾶς, ποία ὑμῖν χάρις ἐστίν;
All three interpretations seem plausible to me. What evidence is there that one of these is the better interpretation than the others?John 12:33 wrote:τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ ἤμελλεν ἀποθνῄσκειν.