[B-Greek] John 1:24

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Dec 5 04:32:08 EST 2003


RSV and NIV disagree in the meaning of this verse:

John 1:24 KAI APESTALMENOI HSAN EK TWN FARISAIWN. KAI HRWTHSAN AUTON...

RSV: Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. (So) They asked him...
NIV: Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him...
REB: Some Pharisees who were in the deputation asked him...

It seems to me that RSV is correct and the others wrong.
The participants are already on the scene from v. 19. A group of priests and
Levites had been sent from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem to investigate
the activities of John the Baptist. In verses 20-22 this group and John are
referenced respectively by plural and singular suffixes on the verbs rather
than pronouns or nouns. It is therefore not a problem to refer to the same
group again by the plural verbal suffixes in APESTALMENOI HSAN without any
pronoun or noun.

The imperfect verb HSAN suggests that this is a background comment about the
people who had been sent. So it seems best to take the participle and HSAN
as a periphrastic construction: "They were having been sent" or in better
English "they had been sent". The reason for the background comment is that
the Pharisees were the ones who baptized their followers, so they saw John
as a competitor and unauthorized baptizer.

Another problem with NIV and REB is the article in TWN FARISAIWN. From where
does NIV and REB get the English pronoun "some"? And where do they get the
relative pronoun "who" from?

I don't think it is reasonable to take HSAN as a simple verb and
APESTALMENOI as a nominal/substantive participle, i.e. "The sent ones were
of the Pharisees (belonged to the Pharisees)". If so, there should have been
a hOI before APESTALMENOI, and HSAN should have been last in the sentence.

Maybe the NIV and REB renderings were occasioned by EK rather than hUPO? In
a sense the Pharisees appear as agents, but by using EK the focus is on
origin rather than agency. As a matter of fact the word hUPO only occurs
twice in John's Gospel, and one of these is the spatial preposition "under"
(1:48). The other clearly indicates an agent (14:21). On the other hand, EK
is quite common in John. Some similar instances are found in
3:6 TO GEGENNHMENON EK THS SARKOS SARX ESTIN, KAI TO GEGENNHMENON EK TOU
PNEUMATOS PNEUMA ESTIN
6:65 EAN MH Hi DEDOMENON AUTWi EK TOU PATROS

In both cases, the EK introduces an agent which is also source or origin,
but the focus seems to be on source.

Another difference between the translations is that NIV and REB appear to
suggest that the group in v. 24 is a new and different group from the group
in v. 19. This is indicated by "some", a word that is not in the Greek text.

Can anyone tell me what is the origin or basis for the NIV and REB
rendering? What am I missing?

Iver Larsen
SIL Translation Consultant
Kenya




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