[B-Greek] EPI in Acts 1:21
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Dec 11 00:35:01 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?
The translation "among" is indeed the standard one, but it doesn't work very
well here. The problem is that there is no simple one-word equivalent in
English. The NLT restructures to: "It must be someone who has been with us
all the time that we were with the Lord Jesus."
The NET quotes BAGD: "Grk the Lord Jesus went in and out among us.
According to BAGD 233 ... went in and out among us = associated with us Ac
1:21.
I looked at EPI followed by any accusative personal pronoun in an NT
database with English interlinear glosses. EPI was at times translated
by "on" as in Mark 9:22 SPLAGCNISQEIS EF' hHMAS (having compassion on us),
by "against" as in Luke 22:53 OUK EXETEINATE TAS CEIRAS EP' EME (you did not
stretch out your hands against me), see also John 13:18,
by "over" as in Luke 19:14 OU QELOMEN TOUTON BASILEUSAI EF' hHMAS (to rule
over us), see also 2 Cor 12:9,
by "towards" as in Eph 2:7 EN CRHSTOTHTI EF' hHMAS (kindness towards us),
and
by "for" as in Luke 23:28 MY KLAIETE EP' EME (do not cry for me).
Based on this I am wondering whether the sense of EPI here is "those
affected by" the action (in either a positive or negative sense). Jesus
walked among thousands of people, but only those who followed him as his
disciples were deeply and positively affected by what he did and said. (The
Pharisees were deeply negatively affected, but that is not the topic here.)
This agrees with Carl's comments about the influence of Jesus over the
people governed by EPI. None of the English prepositions above will work in
this context, at least as long as the Hebrew idiom is translated literally.
Iver Larsen
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