John 3:31

Pere Porta Roca pporta at tinet.fut.es
Tue Oct 22 01:31:25 EDT 2002


On greek John 3:31: EK THS GHS LALEI

Generally these words are translated: 'speaks about earthly things' or
equivalents.

I ask: is this not a very, very bad translation?
I'm deeply sure that yes

Because:

1. To say 'about earthly things' would correspond to a greek PERI THS GHS
(LALEI). There are many examples of PERI meaning 'about', 'on': to
speak/deal/think... about/with/of something... I'll will give them if
necessary.

2. Preposition EK is very different in meaning from preposition PERI.

EK has a meaning: from the inside of, from the inner parts of... Example:
John 21:14: (EGERQEIS) EK NEKRWN, (Jesus, resurrected) from the dead, from
the inside of the dead, from the sheol (the place where dead beings are or
dwell)... And many other examples...

But in John 3:31 the preposition used is EK and not PERI.

So, the greek text may not be translated 'he speaks about earthly things'
but 'he speaks from an earthly point of view', 'he speaks from a worldly
(terrenal) position', 'he speaks accordingly to the vision of this world'
and so on...

Are you agreeing with my assertion? Do you think I'm right?

L. Besses




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