[B-Greek] Rev 7:14 hOUTOI EISIN hOI *ERCOMENOI* EK THS QLIYEWS THSMEGALHS
Jonathan Robie
jonathan.robie at datadirect.com
Mon May 17 06:33:38 EDT 2004
Iver Larsen wrote:
>>Rev 7:14 hOUTOI EISIN hOI *ERCOMENOI* EK THS QLIYEWS THS MEGALHS
>>Does the force of this verb require a sense of continual repetition, of
>>martyrs continuing to arrive? I ask this because most translations and
>>many commentaries do not seem to see it this way.
>
>
> Not necessarily repetition, since a particular person only comes out from
> the tribulation once. But the event is described from an inside, ongoing
> perspective, and from the speaker's point of view the tribulation seems to
> be still ongoing, but the group referred to have all come out of the
> tribulation.
I think you are referring to the imperfective aspect of the present
tense here - but the action that is being described from the inside is
"coming", isn't it? Doesn't this provide an inside, ongoing perspective
of people who are coming?
> According to v. 9 the whole group is now standing before the
> throne and they are KRAZOUSIN LEGONTES - present tense.
> You can translate this by the English "they have come out" to indicate that
> all within the referenced group have come out, but without implying that the
> tribulation is over. Others might still be coming.
In English, I could say, "During rush hour, the station is filled with
the people who are coming out of the trains." Obviously, the people who
are already in the subway station are not the same ones who are
physically leaving the train at any given moment, but to me, this places
emphasis on the continual arrival of people from the trains. That's the
kind of picture that I formed when reading this verse. Am I reading too
much into it?
In verse 10 we have another present middle participle:
hH SWTHRIA TWi QEWi hHMWN TWi *KAQHMENWi* EPI TWi QRWNWi KAI TWi ARNIWi.
Would you find it acceptable to translate this, "Salvation be to our God
who has sat on the throne, and to the Lamb"? To me, "they have come out"
fails to describe the "coming" from an inside, ongoing perspective in
the same way that the Greek does.
Jonathan
List-Owner, B-Greek
Little Greek
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