Luke 13.2,4 (was Re: aramaic influence)

Jim West jwest at Highland.Net
Mon May 17 12:26:18 EDT 1999


At 05:21 PM 5/17/99 +0000, you wrote:
>On 14 May 99 at 16:38, Jim West wrote:

One clarification- I didn't write this- jack Kilmon did.

>
>> one example, i think, of aramaic influence on the greek text seems to reside
>> in luke 13:2, 4.  here the "sinners" are then called "debtors"- a confusion
>> resolved when one realizes that the underlying aramaic most likely would have
>> been <aram> chayiv </aram>; a word meaning "indebted" (to God).  the greek
>> translator rendered it "sinner" in v. 2 but "debtor" in v. 4. the
significance
>> of understanding something of the aramaic world of Jesus in interpreting
>> gospel texts seems reaffirmed.
>
>This is an interesting case and since no-one else has commented, perhaps I may 
>say something.  Jim may be right about underlying Aramaic here, though it is 
>worth noting that the sinners // debtors (hAMARTWOLOI // OFEILETAI, etc.) link 
>occurs elsewhere in Luke.  Luke 11.4, for example, has "Forgive us our sins 
>(hAMARTIAS) as we forgive each one who is indebted to us (PANTI OFEILONTI 
>hHMIN).  Likewise 7.36-50 (Anointing) works with the same sin-debt correlation 
>-- the woman is a sinner (hAMARTWLOS, 7.39) but Jesus tells a story about two 
>debtors (CREOFEILETAI).  I suspect, therefore, that this can be explained in 
>terms of (a) standard Lukan variation in terminology and tendency to varies
his 
>synonyms and (b) an established correlation between sin and metaphorical debt.
>
>Mark

best,

Jim
(not worthy to untie Jack's shoes... etc....  :-)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
email- jwest at highland.net
web page-  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest




More information about the B-Greek mailing list