John 7:8 -- ANABHTE vs ANABAINW

Mike Sangrey msangrey at BlueFeltHat.org
Wed Mar 13 14:24:19 EST 2002


John 7:8
    hUMEIS ANABHTE EIS THN hEORTHN: EGW OUK ANABAINW EIS THN hEORTHN
    TAUTHN, hOTI hO EMOS KAIROS OUPW PEPLHRWTAI.

I noticed the second ANABAINW is present tense while the first is
aorist.  In English we can't say, "you go up to the feast, I not go up
to this feast."  I suspect that one CAN say that in Greek and therefore
there is a distinction in tense here.  What I'm wondering is this:  is
the sense of this sentence along the lines of:
    
    You go up to the feast; I'm not presently going up to this feast
    since I have some things I need to complete.
    
If it's translated as "you go up...I'm not going up..." the sense of the
second verb is actually more perfective in English than I think the
Greek conveys.  Here, the English means, "I'm not now, nor ever, going
up."  But the Greek isn't perfective, it's imperfective, being in the
present tense.

Does this make sense?  What are your thoughts?

Thank you a head of time for your feedback.

-- 
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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