[B-Greek] PANTAS referent in John 2:15
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Apr 9 08:30:05 EDT 2003
At 8:35 PM -0400 4/8/03, Rbsads at aol.com wrote:
>John 2:15 KAI POIHSAS FRAGELLION EK SCOINIWN PANTAS EXEBALEN EK TOU hIEROU TA
>TE PROBATA KAI TOUS BOAS
>
>A question has developed on another discussion list as to the referent of
>PANTAS. Does it include the sellers in the previous verse? or does it only
>refer to the sheep and cattle?
>
>Any guidance is appreciated to clarify how the grammar and context of the
>verse might be used to determine the likely referent.
The larger context does indeed look like the author intends to indicate
that both sellers and beasts were driven out; on the other hand, I
personally don't think that the Greek text here is definitive enough that
we can be sure it means more than that he used the whip to drive out all
the animals. While PANTAS seems strange with PROBATA as the first of two
objects, nevertheless the linkage of the plurals PROBATA and BOAS with TE
and KAI makes it appear that the PANTA means all the beasts. I'd English
it, if I had to, in a way preserving the vagueness of the Greek expression,
"... drove them all out of the temple, both sheep and cattle." The larger
context certainly does indicate that the sellers were forcefully told "Get
out!" but the clause in question may very well only indicate that the
animals were expelled by use of the whip.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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