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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