[B-Greek] KATESTALMENOUS (Acts 19,36)

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Apr 7 02:07:12 EDT 2004


> At 6:07 PM -0700 4/6/04, Eddie Mishoe wrote:
> >ANANTIRRHTWN OUN ONTWN TOUTWN DEON ESTIN hUMAS
> >KATESTALMENOUS hUPARCEIN KAI MHDEN PROPETES PRASSEIN
> >
> >All the sources seem to take KATESTALMENOUS as Perfect
> >PASSIVE, Culy/Parsons not withstanding. However, they
> >translate this verse:
> >
> >"Since these things are undeniable, you must restrain
> >yourselves and not do anything rash."
> >
> >KATESTALMENOUS hUPARCEIN form a Perfect periphrastic
> >expression, and the translation given by Culy/Parsons
> >appears decidely MIDDLE. Does the Passive/Active
> >combination yield this Middle sense, or is it safer
> >just to understand KATESTALMENOUS as Middle? If so,
> >why do most take KATESTALMENOUS as Passive?
>
> Probably a knee-jerk reaction. But I think that Culy/Parsons
> probably don't
> see this so much as a middle but as a predicate adjective with
> hUPARCEIN as
> a copula = EINAI; that is KATESTALMENOUS has more the force of an
> adjective
> here than of a participle. But if one insists on full participial force, I
> would prefer to call it middle: it's not as if someone other than those
> here addressed are going to do the restraining.
> --

The same verb in the active is used in v. 35 where the GRAMMATEUS has
managed to calm down the crowd in order to speak to them. But the crowd
might have gone back to shouting after he finished, so he is saying to the
crowd that "you must remain in that state of having been calmed down." One
can translate that as "restrain yourselves" without necessarily having
committed oneself to whether the Greek verb form is passive or middle, a
distinction that is often not clear-cut.

Iver Larsen




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