HEOS; Matt 10:23
Steve Black
sdblack at telus.net
Thu Nov 14 09:15:28 EST 2002
Matt 10:23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next;
for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of
Israel **before** the Son of Man comes.
The word translated "before" is heos. I am wondering how it is that
every translator translates this as "before" - which (my Greek is at
a comfortable "beginner's" level) by my understanding never elsewhere
is thusly translated, is is not found as a lexical possibility in any
of my resources. It seems to me that perhaps a previous assumption as
to what this passage means is responsible for not translating this
"until" or "till". I would translate this text something like...
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I
tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel
*until* the Son of Man comes.
This shifts the meaning - making it less clear perhaps and more
ambigious. Perhaps the meaning might be something like that the job
won't be completed - perhaps emphasizing more the size of the job at
hand than the nearness of the "end". (Regardless - the meaning should
be constructed from a good translation and not the other way around)
My question is, am I missing some fancy "advanced" grammatical rule
here that would allow for heos to be translated as "before"?
Thanks
--
Steve Black
Vancouver School of Theology
Vancouver, BC
---
Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand...
-Robert Hunter From SCARLET BEGONIAS
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