Second Plural

Jim Darden jim at dardenhome.com
Tue Mar 6 15:13:59 EST 2001


That's a pretty good one but a careful reading, as you point out, can clear
up the ambiguity.  I'm looking for specific examples where, in our modern
English translations, the first/second plural is *impossible* to discern.
Lk 22:31-32 (thanks Carl) meets this criterion.

Jim Darden
Arlington, WA

>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.






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