Lk 1:64 PARACRHMA
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Sep 13 08:30:38 EDT 2002
At 8:23 AM -0400 9/13/02, in a message Englished from the French original
message and forwarded to B-Greek on behalf of Mme Chabert d'Hyères, she
wrote:
>
>What were people astonished by in Lk 1:63?
>
>- According to NA27/USB4 they were astonished because that Zacharias wrote
>the name of John which means: "God makes grace." Were they astonished at
>the fact that God makes grace? Probably not; rather, they seemed to dispute
>the paternal authority of Zacharias.
>
>- According to D05 they were astonished that Zacharias recovered his speech
>at the very moment in which he wrote the name of John = "God makes grace."
>They were astonished--were filled with wonder by seeing the grace granted
>to Zacharias, IMMEDIATELY (PARACRHMA).
>
>Isn't it a pity that this reading of Codex Bezae D05 isn't indicated by
>Bibles in their notes?
Frankly I think this is a questionable interpretation of what the two Greek
sequences actually indicate.
NA27/UBS4: Lk 1:63-65 (63) KAI AITHSAS PINAKIDION EGRAYEN LEGWN: IWANNHS
ESTIN ONOMA AUTOU. KAI EQAUMASAN PANTES. (64) ANEWiCQH DE TO STOMA AUTOU
PARACRHMA KAI hH GLWSSA AUTOU, KAI ELALEI EULOGWN TON QEON. (65) KAI
EGENETO EPI PANTAS FOBOS TOUS PERIOIKOUNTAS AUTOUS, KAI EN hOLHi THi
OREINHi THS IOUDAIAS DIELALEITO PANTA TA hRHMATA TAUTA.
D05: Lk 1:63-65 (63) KAI AITHSAS PINAKIDA EGRAYEN: IWANHS ESTIN TO ONOMA
AUTOU. (64) KAI PARACRHMA ELUQH hH GLWSSA AUTOU KAI EQAUMASAN PANTES,
ANEWiCQH DE TO STOMA AUTOU KAI ELALEI EULOGWN TON QEON. (65) KAI EGENETO
FOBOS MEGAS EPI PANTAS TOUS PERIOIKOUNTAS AUTON, KAI EN hOLHi THi OREINHi
THS IOUDAIAS DIELALEITO PANTA TA hRHMATA TAUTA.
It is true that KAI EQAUMASAN PANTES in the critical text is a reaction to
Zecharias' writing the name "John" on the note pad, whereas in D05 it
follows upon the instantaneous loosening of Zacharias' tongue. But in fact
his recovery of speech and praise of God FOLLOWS upon the words, KAI
EQAUMASAN PANTES.
(1) I don't believe that the text intends to imply that onlookers were
thinking of the etymology of the name IWANNHS; moreover, (2) there is no
clear indication in the critical text the minds of those who EQAUMASAN were
disputing Zacharias' choice of a name for his son.
There are, in fact, TWO significant differences between the critical text
and the reading of Codex Bezae: one is the position of PARACRHMA; the other
is the position of the clause KAI EQAUMASAN PANTES. Perhaps I am
excessively hard-headed here, but I remain unconvinced that a fundamentally
different understanding of the sequence of events is intended by the
different positioning of these two elements in the two forms of the MS
tradition.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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