Day's of the week (John 20:1)

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Tim Evans
Posts: 91
Joined: July 10th, 2015, 1:40 am

Day's of the week (John 20:1)

Post by Tim Evans »

Hi,
Τῇ δὲ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων ⸀Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ ἔρχεται πρωῒ σκοτίας ἔτι οὔσης εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον καὶ βλέπει τὸν λίθον ἠρμένον ⸆ ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου.
I was wondering why σαββάτον would be plural here? My English brain expects "on the first day of the week" to be singular in Greek. Is there some small point of grammar I have forgotten? (I assume this to be the case because EGGNT doesnt comment on the fact it is plural)

Thanks!
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Day's of the week (John 20:1)

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Both the singular and the plural are used to mean "week":

② a period of seven days, week
ⓐ sing. δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου two days (in) a week Lk 18:12. πρώτῃ σαββάτου on the first day of the week (Sunday) Mk 16:9. κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου every Sunday 1 Cor 16:2. πρωὶ̈ μιᾶς σαββάτου early on Sunday morning Mk 16:2 D.
ⓑ pl. (ἡ) μία (τῶν) σαββάτων (i.e. ἡμέρα) the first day of the week Mt 28:1b (Just., D. 41, 4; s. Dalman, Gramm. 247; SKrauss, Talm. Archäologie II 1911, 428f; PGardner-Smith, JTS 27, 1926, 179–81); Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; J 20:1, 19; Ac 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2 v.l. Judeans fast δευτέρᾳ σαββάτων καὶ πέμπτῃ on the second and fifth days of the week (Monday and Thursday) D 8:1 (s. νηστεύω and the lit. there).—ESchürer, Die siebentägige Woche im Gebr. der christl. Kirche der ersten Jahrhunderte: ZNW 6, 1905, 1–66; FColson, The Week 1926; FBoll, Hebdomas: Pauly-W. VII/2, 1912, 2547–48; RNorth, The Derivation of ‘Sabbath’, Biblica 36, ’55, 182–201; WRordorf, Sunday, tr. AGraham, ’68; BHHW III 1633–35; TRE III 608.—B. 1005. DELG s.v. σάββατα. M-M. EDNT. TW.


Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 910). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
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