Rom 4:16-17 (Translation)

Moon-Ryul Jung moon at saint.soongsil.ac.kr
Sat Feb 10 07:20:55 EST 2001


Dear bgreekers, 
I have some question on the syntax of Rom 4:16-17:

hOS ESTIN PATHR PANTWN hHMWN,
KAQWS GEGRAPTAI hOTI PATERA POLLWN EQNWN TEQEIKA SE,
 KATENANTI hOU EPISTEUSEN QEOU TOU ZWOPOIOUNTOS TOUS VEKROUS.

I consulted several versions, all of which render the above as follows:

(a) who is the father of us all
 (b) (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,)
 (c) before him whom he believed, [even] God, who quickeneth the dead.

In this rendering, (a) and (c) are considered to form a sentence, where
(b) is a
parenthetical remark. 

But I am inclined to render it as follows:

who is the father of us all, as it is written "I have made thee a father
of many nations";
before whom he believed, God who quickens the dead. 

In this rendering, the antecedent of hOU is the "I" who made the promise.

I wonder why many translations do not render as I did.



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