[B-Greek] EPI in Acts 1:21
Jeff Smelser
jeffsmelser at ntgreek.net
Wed Dec 10 12:59:43 EST 2003
Acts 1:21
DEI OUN TWN SUNELQONTWN hHUMIN ANDRWN EN PANTI CRONWi hWi EISHLQEN KAI
EXHLQEN EF' hHMAS hO KURIOS IHSOUS...
"It is necessary therefore, of the men who went about with us in all the
time which the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us..."
I've used "among" just to get an English representation of the clause on the
table, but would anyone care to categorize the use of EPI here, and perhaps
cite some other passages where it is used similarly?
Carl, I see that you addressed this question a few years ago (Jan 20 1998).
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1998-01/22925.html
You wrote:
=====================
If we had only EISELQEIN, "upon us" would be pretty good English, I think:
"The Lord Jesus came in upon us and went out ..." might work. It must be
EPI + acc. with a verb of motion, and EPI + accusative in classical Attic
often has the sense of "come upon," "accost," or even, in the case of a
bird of prey or a battleship, "swoop upon," "assail." I think this might be
a pretty good combination for the impact of Jesus on the lives of this
community: entering into their lives suddenly and completely re-ordering
their entire existences as previously constituted into a new community, and
perhaps, with EXELQEIN added into the equation, there's a suggestion to of
Jesus' abrupt departures and returns to this group. So there's one thought.
=====================
However, it seems to me that coming and going is an idiomatic (Semitic)
expression for the normal activities of life, rooted in the pastoral notion
of sheep coming and going from the sheepfold (Num 27:17). I think that
may be what you had in mind when you said, "If we had only EISELQEIN..."
EPI with that idiom seems incongruous to me. Hence I am wondering if there
are any other thoughts regarding EPI in Acts 1:21.
Listed below are OT occurrences of the idiom categorized by the various
means of translation in the LXX. In the Hebrew text, with one exception,
the order is always the same, "going out" and then "coming in." The
exception is Dt. 28:6 where the phrase seems less idiomatically structured.
In the LXX, even though the Hebrew order is consistent, the Greek has
reversed the order in Psalm 121:8 and Dt. 31:2. In Luke, we twice see it,
both times with the reversed order, Ac 1:21 and 9:28. I only mention the
change in order because I suppose it has bearing on the question of whether
this is the idiomatic expression I take it to be.
Jeff Smelser
www.ntgreek.net
www.centrevillechurchofchrist.org
EXERCOMAI...EISERCOMAI
Num 27:17
Josh 14:11
EXODOS...EISODOS
1Sa 29:6
2Sa 3:25
2Ki 19:27
Isa 37:28
Ps 121:8 (reversed order in LXX)
EKPOREUOMAI...EISPOREUOMAI (cf. Ac. 9:28, with reversed order)
Dt. 28:6 (reversed order in Hebrew and LXX)
Dt. 31:2 (reversed order in LXX)
2Chron 15:5
Zech 8:10
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