[B-Greek] EMBRIBAOMAI

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Mar 27 14:18:10 EST 2003


> Does anyone of you know what 'EMBRIBAOMAI' means? The standard answer
> is that in Jn 11;33.38 it simply means the feeling that overcomes you
> when a dear friend of yours has just passed away. But that is hardly
> satisfying.
<snip>

Agreed. If that is the standard answer, it is not satisfying.

The same word was discussed on August 4, 2002, on this list.
As Carl has said, the sense seems to be "deeply upset", and as you yourself
and others have mentioned, there may well be an element of indignation.
Probably also frustration in the case of John 11.

You will be familiar with the Danish translations which do not talk about
Jesus being "deeply moved" but rather being "deeply upset with a feeling of
indignation" (stærkt opbragt) in the 92 version and "became angry"
(harmedes) in the 1948 version. Some English ones talk about being deeply
moved, but others say: "moved with indignation" (e.g. NLT and NEB).

The question remains why Jesus was upset. If we look at the general NT
context, it seems to me that the reason for Jesus being upset, breathing in
and exhaling through the nose as Carl described, is not that Lazarus is
dead. After all, John has told us that Jesus had gone there to raise him
from the dead. No big problem. What may well have upset Jesus was the lack
of faith demonstrated by Mary and the other Jews in v. 32 and v. 37. So my
recommendation is that we look carefully at the preceding context for both
v. 33 and v. 38. And we must remember that John builds his whole gospel
around the theme of faith. The "Jews" did not believe and constantly opposed
him. Notice how John comments on this incident in v. 45-53. Many more now
believed that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God because of this miracle,
but others still refused to believe.

Best wishes,
Iver Larsen



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