Phil 4:6 ALL EN PANTI

Mike Sangrey msangrey at BlueFeltHat.org
Sat Dec 28 10:12:03 EST 2002


On Sat, 2002-12-28 at 08:49, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
> At 8:33 AM -0500 12/28/02, Jay Anthony Adkins wrote:
> >Phil 4:6 MHDEN MERIMNATE, ALL EN PANTI TH PROSEUCH KAI TH DEHSEI META
> >EUCARISTAIS TA AITHMATA UMWN GNORIZESQW PROS TON QEON.
> >
> >Phil 4:6 Have no anxiety, but in each prayer and plea let your requests be
> >know to God with gratitude.
> >
> >In checking the translations I have available to me all have chosen to
> >translate the phrase ALL EN PANTI "but in everything", yet it seems to
> >make more sense to me to say "but in each".  I will assume I am wrong, but
> >can someone tell me why I am wrong.  Thank you.
> 
> I don't think you should assume you're wrong at all--just that the Greek
> text can be construed in more than one way. NET evidently took it as you
> did, although its a dynamic-equivalence translation::
> 
> 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, tell your requests to God in
> your every prayer and petition-with thanksgiving.

Now, I'm a little confused.  (I've been there before and generally I get
over it <laugh>)

PANTI is neuter and TH PROSEUCH is feminine.  So PAS is not to be
construed with PROSEUCH.  Right?  If, however, the genders matched, then
we would have PAS in 1st predicate position with an articular noun.  And
we would generally understand that to mean `all' or `the whole of'.

What am I missing with respect to the grammar?

Also, having said that, let me quickly add I think the case can be made
semantically for the NET translation.  That is, what would it mean to
say, "Never be anxious about anything, but in just some of your prayers
to God, not in all of them, of course, be thankful..."  The NET
translators had to make a decision about whether to keep `prayer'
singular as in the original or to make it plural to match the sense.  It
appears to me they chose to allow the nature of PAS to influence the
rest of the sentence.  And that's how communication works, so I think
they're justified.

-- 
Mike Sangrey
msangrey at BlueFeltHat.org
Landisburg, Pa.
                        "The first one last wins."
            "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."




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