Discourse function of Imperfective Tense (Mark: 1:4-8)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Dec 29 07:58:45 EST 2002


At 7:16 AM -0500 12/29/02, Moon-Ryul Jung wrote:
>
> ... Let me ask clarifying questions.
>
>(1) If Jesus's praying were described by the aorist, then
>    would it imply that the prayer was completed before
>    Simon got up and tried to find him?

I would understand it that way, although the aorist PROHUXATO would
primarily indicate the completeness of the act of praying, not when he
began or ended praying.

>(2) Can you say " Simon started looking for him, while Jesus was still
>out >there where the narrator left him praying", with respect to the
>following >English translation?
>
>1:35   And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out
>to a lonely place, and there he prayed. 1:36 And Simon and those who were
>with him pursued him, 1:37 and they found him and said to him, "Every one
>is searching for you."

Can we get the Greek text before us first?

35 KAI PRWI ENNUCA LIAN ANASTAS EXHLQEN KAI APHLQEN EIS ERHMON TOPON KAKEI
PROSHUCETO. 36 KAI KATEDIWXEN AUTON SIMWN KAI hOI MET' AUTOU. 37 KAI hEURON
AUTON KAI LEGOUSIN AUTWi hOTI PANTES ZHTOUSIN SE.

>In the Greek version, the implication is that when Simon found Jesus, he
>was still praying. How about the English version? Can we make such an
>inference? I know that it is not a question about Greek. But somehow it seems
>important to know the difference between Greek and English.

The problem is that the English preterite "he prayed" doesn't quite
correspond to either the Greek imperfect or the Greek aorist, although it's
perhaps closer to the Greek aorist. PROSHUCETO indicates that Jesus BEGAN
to pray but doesn't offer any distinct indication of when he may have
completed his praying or whether he might have completed it at the point at
which Peter and the others came upon him--it suggests that he might be
still at prayer when overtaken but doesn't so clearly state it. That could
have been made clear if our text offered: KAI hEURON AUTON PROSEUCOMENON --
but that's not what the text says. I think that you are asking for more
specificity than the text provides. I do think that the natural assumption
to draw from the sequence of verses 35 and 36 is that Jesus was still
praying when Simon and the others found him--but the text does not
distinctly say so.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list