[B-Greek] Matt 24:40,41/Luke 17:34,35

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Oct 21 06:23:29 EDT 2003


At 11:37 AM +1000 10/21/03, Kevin Riley wrote:
>A friend was asking if there is anything in the grammar of these passages
>that would indicate if it is the wicked or the righteous who are taken [or
>left].  I could see nothing in the use of PARALAMBANW or AFIHMI that would
>indicate which class either referred to, but would assume it has to be
>solved by context.  Have I missed something of grammatical importance in
>these text?

I don't think there is any such indication, nor do I think that you've
missed something of grammatical importance.

The texts in question:
Mt 24:40 TOTE DUO ESONTAI EN TWi AGRWi, hEIS PARALAMBANETAI KAI hEIS
AFIETAI; 41 DUO ALHQOUSAI EN TWi MULWi, MIA PARALAMBANETAI KAI MIA AFIETAI.

Lk 17:34 LEGW hUMIN, TAUTHi THi NUKTI ESONTAI DUO EPI KLINHS MIAS, hO hEIS
PARALHMFQHSETAI KAI hO hETEROS AFEQHSETAI; 35 ESONTAI DUO ALHQOUSAI EPI TO
AUTO, hH MIA PARALHMFQHSETAI, hH DE hETERA AFEQHSETAI.

Clearly both versions derive from a single tradition, commonly although by
no means universally termed "Q." I would suppose that Luke's version
displays deliberate redaction to improve the style by putting all verbs
into the future tense and by phrasing the alternative subjects as
hEIS/hETEROS and MIA/hETERA respectively. There's certainly no aspect of
either man or woman in the successive verses that allows identification of
one as righteous, the other as wicked. It does seem mildly ironic that the
verb AFIHMI/AFIW (we find both Omega- and MI-verb conjugation of this verb
in the GNT) here must mean "leave behind" although it is also used for
"forgive" (but normally with an accusative of the sin and dative of the
person forgiven).
-- 

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/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list