MT 14:27 QARSEITE,EGW EIMI

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Mon Jan 10 17:09:05 EST 2000


To: A K M Adam,

<< What about representing this with the idiomatic "Here I am" (as in LXX 
Isaiah 6:8, IDOU, EGW EIMI, APOSTEILON ME)? This may also be helpful for 
the Johannine text that bedeviled us several weeks ago. >>

I don't know if it was your intent to suggest that some of us are 
"possessed by the devil" as your term "bedeviled" might suggest, or whether 
you merely meant to suggest that some were "bewildered." But I for one am 
neither "bedeviled" nor "bewildered" by that Johannine text. Rather I would 
respectfully suggest that what we have here is not bewilderment, but rather 
a difference of opinion.

Now to the issue of whether or not EGW EIMI means "Here I am" as LXX Is 6:8 
might seem to suggest. In order to get the context of the passage before 
us, I offer a rough translation.

<< And I heard the Lord's voice saying: "Who will I send? And who will go 
to this people?" And I said: "Behold, I am he. Send me." >> (LXX Is 6:8 MOT).

Personally, I wouldn't quibble with the translation "Here I am, send me." 
One could justify including the term "here" either (a) from the context, or 
(b) even from the Greek term IDOU which means something like "look here!" 
But if one is asking if the words EGW EIMI  (by themselves) imply "here," 
the answer must be "no," there is nothing in the phrase EGW EIMI which 
imply "here." One has to pick up that notion either from the context, or 
from IDOU. For example, see LXX 1 Kings 3:4,5,6,8 where we have IDOU EGW 
(without EIMI) which means "here I am." I think this clearly illustrates 
that it is IDOU and the context which suggests "here" and not merely EGO 
EIMI (although EIMI is here clearly implied).  (See also Acts 9:10 for the 
same idiom IDOU EGW meaning "here am I.") What do you think?

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Disclaimer: "I'm just a simple house-husband (with no post-grad degree), 
what do I know?"




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