[B-Greek] METEWRIZOMAI
farley
lfarley at sprint.ca
Wed Aug 6 12:32:57 EDT 2003
Dear friends:
In Lk. 12:29, Christ gives the command MH METEWRIZECQE.
One lexicon, though defining the verb as literally meaning "to raise up", says that it cannot mean anything else in this context than "do not to be anxious", which is indeed how most translations render it (eg. NKJV, "do not have an anxious mind"). Douay renders it more literally as "be not lifted up on high".
I note that the verb is used in Ps. 130:1 (LXX), where the English renders the Greek verb also as "lifted up". The other English translations of this psalm (based presumably on the Hebrew), render it as "proud, haughty".
The word is used in Josephus and in other places as well, but I do not have the resources to check out its usage there for myself.
I am tempted to think that the word means something like our English "up in the air, restless", and apply such a meaning to both Lk. 12:29 and Ps. 130:1 LXX. It seems odd to me that one verb could mean such divergent things as both "anxious" and "proud" (though proud people are, admittedly, often anxious).
Any thoughts?
Yours with thanks,
Lawrence Farley, Langley, B.C.
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