Lifts up or takes away?
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Apr 27 15:28:21 EDT 2002
At 9:58 AM -0400 4/27/02, David Lopez wrote:
>Hello,
>Greetings! has anyone ever heard of the interpretation of John 15:2 every
>branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away... (NKJV)
>I heard a speaker say that all the translaters got this one wrong, that it
>should be translated "lifts up". Also that the context indicates this.
>
>All the translaters can't be wrong are they? Any thoughts?
>
>David [Lopez -- New list-members please take note that BG Protocol
>requires a full-name signature to be appended to all messages sent
>to the list.]
While it's possible that ALL the translators may get something wrong,
anyone who makes that assertion ought to be more careful.
the text: PAN KLHMA EN EMOI MH FERON KARPON AIREI AUTO, KAI PAN TO KARPON
FERON KAQAIREI AUTO hINA KARPON PLEIONA FERHi.
While AIREI does indeed mean "lift up," this is a standard idiom for "take
away," "remove from the scene," or in Anglo-American slang, "lift" (in the
sense of "make away with").
Note the nice note Louw and Nida offer on this: KAQAROS
43.12 KAQAIRWb: to cut away or cut back unproductive branches or to cut
back productive branches so they can produce better - 'to take away, to
prune, to cut off.' PAN TO KARPON FERON KAQAIREI AUTO/ 'every (branch) that
bears fruit, he prunes it' Jn 15:2. In Jn 15:2 the verb KAQAIRW involves a
play on two different meanings. The one meaning involves pruning of a
plant, while the other meaning involves a cleansing process (79.49). This
play on two meanings of KAQAIRW serves to highlight the meanings of KAQAROS
as 'clean' (79.48) or 'pure' (53.29) in Jn 15:3.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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