Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

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Charlie Johnson
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Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

Post by Charlie Johnson »

Luke 6:12b - καὶ ἦν διανυκτερεύων ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ τοῦ θεοῦ.

I was casually reading this chapter, and this genitive stuck out to me. It seemed so odd that Luke would render the recipient of the prayer in the genitive. I would have expected τῳ θεῳ or προς τον θεον. I checked the LXX and NT, and though genitives after προσευχη are plentiful, I could not find any that paralleled this expression. How should I regard this? A perfectly acceptable expression? A bit quirky? A grammatical error? Or, is another interpretation possible?
cwconrad
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Re: Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

Post by cwconrad »

Charlie Johnson wrote:Luke 6:12b - καὶ ἦν διανυκτερεύων ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ τοῦ θεοῦ.

I was casually reading this chapter, and this genitive stuck out to me. It seemed so odd that Luke would render the recipient of the prayer in the genitive. I would have expected τῳ θεῳ or προς τον θεον. I checked the LXX and NT, and though genitives after προσευχη are plentiful, I could not find any that paralleled this expression. How should I regard this? A perfectly acceptable expression? A bit quirky? A grammatical error? Or, is another interpretation possible?
It's listed as such in BDAG for this passage. Inasmuch as προσευχή is a verbal noun, I don't see anything particularly strange in usage of an "objective" genitive of the one to whom the prayer is addressed.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Louis L Sorenson
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Re: Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

Luke:A Handbook on the Greek Text by Culy/Parsons/Stigall agrees.

p. 191 τοῦ θεοῦ. Objective genitive.
Charlie Johnson
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Re: Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

Post by Charlie Johnson »

I agree that there isn't an actual grammatical error involved. I'm also convinced that it is, in fact, an objective genitive. I'm asking if it sounds odd to you. I admit my search was cursory rather than scholarly, but I did not find a single other objective genitive after προσευχη in the LXX + NT. On the contrary, there are subjective genitives aplenty. Also, as far as I can find, praying to God is a rather common theme, but in every other instance is expressed either by the dative or by προς + accusative. So, can I at least say it's a quirk?
timothy_p_mcmahon
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Re: Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

Post by timothy_p_mcmahon »

Would you consider Mark 11:22 similar?

ο ιησους λεγει αυτοις εχετε πιστιν θεου
Iver Larsen
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Re: Luke 6:12 - odd genitive

Post by Iver Larsen »

Probably.

In both cases we are dealing with a verb that has the semantic role of Direction. Both prayer and trust is directed to God. This semantic role can be expressed with a dative, or with πρὸς. When used in a genitive construction, the role of Direction is expressed by a genitive. It may not be common, but it is perfectly fine and natural.
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