Second Plural

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Mar 6 13:49:29 EST 2001


At 9:03 AM -0800 3/6/01, Jim Darden wrote:
>Does anyone know of a scripture reference where the second plural is so
>ambiguous when translated into English (excluding the KJV) that
>the referent is easily confused?  Are there any exegetically significant
>passages out there?  I didn't find any examples in Wallace or the other
>grammars I have so maybe it's a non-issue.  Thanks.

Here's one that I wasn't aware of until it was recently called to my attention:

Lk 22:31-32 SIMWN SIMWN, IDOU hO SATANAS EXHTHSEN hUMAS TOU SINIASAI hWS
TON SITON; EGW DE EDEHQHN PERI SOU hINA MH EKLIPHi hH PISTIS SOU; KAI SU
POTE EPISTREYAS STHRISON TOUS ADELFOUS SOU.

It's the hUMAS in verse 31 that's surprising and important: Jesus speaks to
Peter but he says that Satan wants to sift ALL of the disciples, not just
Peter. When hUMAS is translated simply as "you" the implications are lost.

-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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