[B-Greek] Luke 3.14b

Alexander Hopkins alexali at surf.net.au
Mon Oct 27 07:14:02 EST 2003


Patrick Narkinsky commented on

>Luke 3.14:

>KAI EIPEN AUTOIS MHDENA DIASEISHTE MHDE SUKOFANTHSHTE KAI ARKEISQE TOIS

OYWNIOIS.

Patrick wrote,

>[1] It seems clear that DIASEIW doesn't just mean "shake".  If we take
a very narrow interpretation, it seems to mean "shake down for money" -
i.e. try to rip someone off to get money.  If we take a more broad
interpretation (as e.g. the King James) it means "to do violence."  Can
anyone offer an opinion on this?  The dictionaries are little help, and 
I'm afraid that the contemporary translations may be theologically
motivated.

Patrick, it might help to look at Moulton and Milligan's 'The Vocabulary
of the Greek Testament'.  DIASEIW is well known from the papyrus as a
legal technical term meaning 'extort' (though it is not confined to this
meaning).  At Luke 3:14, John the Baptist is replying to soldiers who
asked what they were to do, and he tells them (eg NIV) "Don't extort
money".  MM note a papyrus document (of 37 AD) in one of the early
volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, POxy 2.240, which concerns (the
denial of) an accusation of extortion against a soldier, and say "This
unknown soldier might have come almost fresh from the Baptist's
exhortation!"  MM also note the combination of the same verbs as seen
here (DIASEIW and SUKOFANTEW) in another papyrus document (P Tebt 1.43).
The contemporary translations may be cleared of any charge of
theological motivation, and given credit for an appropriate awareness of
what has been learnt from the papyri.

Alex Hopkins
Melbourne, Australia




More information about the B-Greek mailing list