Gal. 4:13 hOTI DI'

Steven R. Lo Vullo doulos at merr.com
Sun Nov 11 17:53:09 EST 2001


on 11/11/01 3:45 PM, Wayne Leman at wayne_leman at sil.org wrote:

> One of my coworkers is currently revising the translation of Galatians and
> asked me yesterday to help him determine the meaning of hOTI DI' in Gal.
> 4:13. English versions are divided as to whether these particles indicate
> the cause of Paul's preaching to them the first time or a circumstantial
> condition of his preaching to them the first time. Do you all on this list
> feel there is any way that we can tell from the Greek here which of these
> semantic options is more likely?

Wayne, I don't think hOTI and DI' should be construed together as a phrase
or an idiom. In light of the fact that the main verb is OIDATE, a verb of
perception, I think it is better to take hOTI as a marker of indirect
statement, i.e., introducing the content of the Galatians' knowledge. I also
think the most natural way to take the preposition DI' is in a causal sense.
-- 

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI




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