[B-Greek] Acts 19,34
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Wed Apr 7 02:07:20 EDT 2004
> EPIGNONTES DE hOTI IOUDAIOS ESTIN FWNH EGENETO MIA EK
> PANTWN hWS EPI hWRAS DUO KRAZONTWN, MEGALH H ARTEMIS
> EFESIWN
>
> The NET Bible has:
> 19:34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they
> all shouted in unison, "Great is Artemis" of the
> Ephesians!" for about two hours.
>
> Culy/Parsons has:
>
> But when they recognized that he was a Jew, one cry
> arose from all those who were shouting, for about two
> hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
>
> Making note of the Genitive KRAZONTWN, Culy, and I
> think rightly, insists that MIA must modify FWNH,
> since PANTWN modifies KRAZONTWN. Contra the NET Bib le
> then, MIA EK PANTWN must be undone, since PANTWN goes
> with KRAZONTWN (not part of some idiomatic
> expression).
>
> All of which means we have quite a mess with this
> verse. And I'm not sure just what this "one voice" had
> to say as the others were shouting. The NET Bible
> translation seems smooth, but grammatically is it
> possible, and Culy/Parsons translation seems to leave
> the "one voice" unattended. Any other suggested
> translations or support for those given above?
I don't see the mess, but maybe the problem is the two different types of
translation? The NET bible attempts to give the meaning in clear and normal
English. When one voice comes from a whole crowd, the meaning is that the
crowd shouted in unison or "as with one voice". (The Latin-derived "unison"
is similar to FWNH MIA.)
The Culy/Parsons rendering is the special kind of "translation" one uses in
Greek textbooks and discussions. The purpose is not to render the meaning in
clear and normal English, but to talk about Greek grammar and words using
English words. So, they have made a more literal rendering. If one assumes
that this is normal English, problems arise, because then the reader is
trying to make sense out of it from normal English usage. The one
voice/sound is not from one person, but what emanates from the crowd. They
were all shouting, but they shouted the same thing/sound/message. I can
almost here the chanting of the crowd: MEGALH hH ARTEMIS EFESIWN - MEGALH hH
ARTEMIS EFESIWN - MEGALH hH ARTEMIS EFESIWN..... for two hours!
Iver Larsen
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