Second Plural
Maurice A. O'Sullivan
mauros at iol.ie
Tue Mar 6 14:49:47 EST 2001
At 17:03 06/03/01, 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?
Jim:
Does the story of the mother of the sons of Zebedee ( Mt. 20:20 ) meet your
criterion?
In the English of the RSV
>> 20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zeb'edee came up to him, with
her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 20:21 And
he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Command that these
two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in
your kingdom." 20:22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are
asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to
him, "We are able." <<
In v.22, "you" is ambiguous, is it the mother or the sons Jesus is
addressing? In the Greek it is immediately clear from OUK OIDATE that it is
the sons, but in English this is only made clear when it is established
that "they" said to him.
Maurice A. O'Sullivan [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros at iol.ie
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