Acts 2:2 rushing breath?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Mon Oct 14 02:16:48 EDT 2002


> >
> > KAI EGENETO AFNW EK TOU OURANOU HKOS hWSPER FEROMENHS PNOHS BIAIAS

> > Is it at all possible that it could be construed with EK TOU OURANOU?
> > In that case I would understand it as "being brought from heaven" and
the
> > source or origin of the wind would be fronted in order to focus on the
> > source of this unusual sound.
>
> I think what makes this unlikely, Iver, is the position of FEROMENHS
> after the comparative particle hWSPER, which introduces a comparison.
> In my opinion it is much more natural to take FEROMENHS (along with
> BIAIAS) as attributive to PNOHS, with the whole phrase introduced by
> hWSPER and forming the comparison with HCOS.
> ============

I agree that FEROMENHS is an attribute to PNOHS, but what I am exploring -
not necessarily arguing for - is whether FEROMENHS EK TOU OURANOU (being
brought from heaven) could be a disjunct participial clause/phrase which as
a whole is an attribute to PNOHS. Could it be the case that EK TOU OURANOU
has a double function, both giving the source of the sound and then also the
source of the breath? After all, Luke is describing a mystical sound which
he then compares to a kind of breath. HKOS seems to have a similar double
function. It is the subject of the main clause, but it is also carried over
and implied in the comparative clause: like (a sound) of a strong breath.
The second HKOS is needed as the implied head of the genitive phrase. Maybe
a second EK TOU OURANOU is carried over and implied as the source of
FEROMENHS?

Carl quoted  "BDAG s.v. 3 indicates fairly clearly that the sense may be
middle or passive,
depending of whether or not there's an external agent or source of
movement, even though it refers to the form as "passive""

I agree that the middle interpretation is quite likely, especially since
there seem to be other similar examples from Greek as quoted by BDAG. In
that case it is more like "moving" in English, where the wind is not moving
something else, but is moving by itself or being driven by an undefined
source. However, it still seems semantically superfluous to say that the
wind is moving when it is also described as strong. I would have thought
that a strong wind is always moving along briskly.

But as the quote says if there is an explicit source, the meaning could well
be passive. (The Friberg tags marked it as passive rather than middle, I am
not sure why). So, the question remains whether EK TOU OURANOU could be that
explicit source, probably a metonym or euphemism for God himself. Maybe Luke
is emphasizing that it was God himself who breathed mightily on the people
gathered?

I am wondering whether there is a thematic parallel to 2 Pet 1:17-18, and
even the word QEOPNEUSTOS in 2 Tim 3:16. I am also wondering whether PNOH is
not better understood as breath than wind. In any case, the connection to
PNEUMA is closer than to ANEMOS.

2 Pet 1:17 FWNHS ENECQEISHS AUTWi TOIASDE hUPO THN MEGALOPREPOUS DOXHS
(when such a voice/sound was brought to him by the Magnificent Glory)
2 Pet 1:18 KAI TAUTHN THN FWNHN hHMEIS HKOUSAMEN EX OURANOU ENEXQEISAN
(and we heard this voice/sound having been brought from/out of heaven)

I am just looking at options,

Iver Larsen




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