[B-Greek] Rev. 1:8 ERCOMENOS

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Nov 30 16:26:41 EST 2003


At 11:38 AM -0800 11/30/03, Ted Shoemaker wrote:
>
>Hello,
>
>In the middle of Revelation 1:8 we read:
>hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS
>
>The King James Version renders this
>"which is, and which was, and which is to come".
>
>I have more than one question.
>
>(1)  Are the KJV (and many other translations)
>     legitimate in making such a rendering here?

I'd have no quarrel with that as Elizabethan English.

>(2)  If so, why?
>     That is, I thought hO ERCOMENOS
>     meant "the one who comes", not
>     "the one which is to come".
>     Maybe that's too fine a distinction to
>     quibble about -- but I think there's a difference.

cf. Mt 3:11, 11:3, 21:9, 23:39; Mk 11:9, Lk 7:19-20, 19:38, Jn 1:27, etc., etc.
I think this is probably a Semitism and represents ha-BA
cf. Ps 117.26 EULOGHMENOS hO ERCOMENOS EN ONOMATI KURIOU ... which is cited
is some of the above passages at the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

>(3)  What is the linguistic significance of using
>     hO ERCOMENOS instead of a future tense?
>     Reading the whole sentence, I would have
>     expected to see "who was, who is, and who will be".

At least ERCOMENOS works with the definite article hO to create a
substantive; you ought to have asked about hO HN: that's the grammatical
no-no in this text. The text is perfectly intelligible, but it's just not
normal Greek.

>I hope we can keep the discussion within the parameters
>of the group's regulations.  Anyone who wishes to talk
>about the relevant theological implications is
>welcome to do so, but please use private email.

Thank you, and if any persons DO wish to discuss the theology of this, I
hope they will indeed respond to Ted privately, but I think that what is at
stake in this question is intelligible in terms of linguistic usage alone.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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