Luke 16:9
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Nov 16 14:45:59 EST 2002
>
> Forwarded for Albert Pietersma
>
> Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 10:48:31 -0500
> From: Albert Pietersma <albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca>
>
> "Dan King" wrote:
>
> > Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 17:54:07 -0000
> > Author: "Dan & Rachel King" <dan_rach at ntlworld.com>
> > Subject: Luke 16:9
> >
> > hEAUTOIS POIHSATE FILOUS EK TOU MAMWNA THS ADIKIAS hINA hOTAN EKLIPHi =
> > DEXWNTAI hUMAS EIS TAS AIWNIOUS SKHNAS
> >
> > It seems that the only viable subject for DEXWNTAI is the FILOI
> > (Jeremias comments that the change of subject is a semitism), yet some
> > translations (eg NIV) have avoided the direct identification by
> turning the verb into a passive with no explicit agent.
> >
> > Is it reasonable to take DEXWNTAI thus impersonally, or are the FILOI
> > the naturally understood to be subject of the verb? What would be the
> > natural meaning to the first readers?
>
> Though I am not up on the recent literature, in my seminary days (1960s)
> the plural was understood as a circumlocution for God. That is to say, if
one did as
> suggested one would receive a welcome in heaven. Is that still considered
a viable
> interpretation?
> Al
There are examples of a third person plural being used to refer to undefined
people, and therefore it can in such contexts function like the English
passive. (The French might say "on" while the Germans and Scandinavians
might say "man"). I am not aware that it is ever used as a circumlocution
for God.
Luke 16:9 should be compared closely with 16:4. Here we also have DEXWNTAI,
but the translations that use a passive in v. 9 do not do so in v. 4. The
two situations are very parallel, and therefore the translations of them
ought to be parallel. The manager made friends in a corrupt way in order for
them to welcome him EIS TOUS OIKOUS AUTWN when his life of a well-to-do
manager was finished. Similarly in v. 9, a we are urged to make friends,
using the money belonging to a corrupt world - but not in a corrupt way - to
make friends who would then welcome us EIS TAS AIWNIOUS SKHNAS when our
lives in this world are finished. The intention seems to be to use money -
which belongs to this world anyway and cannot be taken along to heaven - to
make some people receive eternal life, and then they will be glad to welcome
us in the place where eternal life is lived.
I don't think NIV and several other versions were justified in changing to a
passive. My suggestion for an idiomatic rendering of the intended meaning
would be something like:
16:8-9: "When the master heard what his dishonest manager had done, he
commended him for his shrewd foresight." Jesus continued: "The people of
this world are more shrewd in relating to their own kind than the people of
the light are. 9 And I tell you: Be careful how you use the money of this
world. Use it to make friends and win them for the Kingdom of God. When
money is no longer of any use, then those friends will be able to welcome
you in the heavenly dwellings."
Iver Larsen
PS. The NET Bible has completely lost the meaning when they translate "their
own generation" with "their contemporaries", but that is another question
that has to do with the common misunderstanding of GENEA. (Confer a thread
in December 2000)
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