[B-Greek] James 1:4 and imperatives

John Colby colby at solutions2000.net
Tue Dec 30 18:15:09 EST 2003


Thank you for your help with James 1:3. I find James to have different Greek than I am used to. The first part of James 1:4 reads:

hH DE hUPOMONH ERGON TELEION ECETW 

My question concerns the imperative. I would translate this, "Now *let* endurance *have* perfect work" or "Now endurance *must have* perfect work. The typical translation of a present imperative third person singular verb is like this (how I have learned): ECETW- let he/she/it have. This is confusing to me, because it sounds like: *you* let he/she/it have. But this is a active and third person. My first translation sounds like you are allowing endurance have perfect work. Is this right? Or is the sense more like my second translation, giving an statement that endurance must have perfect work? I am not as concerned about this verse as I am understanding the third person imperative (active and also mp, middle, and passive). I would be glad if someone would help me understand this and/or point me to some online resources.

Jonathan Colby
Guyana, South America




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