Luke 16:9

Glendon M. Gross gross at xinetd.com
Sun Nov 17 00:10:57 EST 2002


I recall that this verse was translated  "Make friends for yourselves 
using the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may 
receive you into the eternal dwellings."  I have forgotten which version
translates it this way.     So my attempt to literally translate it 
would be:


boyd at huxcomm.net wrote:
> Luke 16:9
> hEAUTOIS    POIHSATE    FILOUS   EK     TOU MAMWNA THS ADIKIAS
    Therefore  make        friends out of the mammon (of) unrighteousness


> hINA hOTAN EKLIPHi           DEXWNTAI      hUMAS EIS TAS AIWNIOUS 
    so that  when it fails, they might welcome you   in the eternal

> SKHNAS
     tents
> 

I too have long been fascinated with this verse and I think I know
what it means, but I have to defer to those with the best reference
materials (BDAG) to affirm or reject my attempts here. To me it does 
appear that FILOUS is the subject of DEXWNTAI.  If DEXWNTAI is a 
passive, who is going to welcome you?


Sincerely,

Glendon Gross
Amateur Greek Student



> Dan,
> 
> In my opinion, this whole parable is one of the most interesting in 
> the gospels.  I don't think that your question can be concretely 
> answered from the Greek without considerations that go beyond 
> the scope of B-Greek.  It looks to me like the Greek is ambiguous.  
> I realize that this is no help whatever, but thought I'd add my two 
> cents.
> 
> Jonathan Boyd
> Huxley, IA
> 
> 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?
> 
> 
> Jonathan, Holly, and Lucas Boyd
> http://members.truepath.com/boyds
> 
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [gross at xinetd.ath.cx]
> To unsubscribe, forward this message to $subst('Email.Unsub')
> To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu
> 
> 
> 




More information about the B-Greek mailing list