[B-Greek] Rev 7:14 hOUTOI EISIN hOI *ERCOMENOI* EK THS QLIYEWS THSMEGALHS

Clwinbery at aol.com Clwinbery at aol.com
Tue May 18 11:02:34 EDT 2004


In a message dated 5/17/2004 2:10:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time, iver_larsen at sil.org writes:

> 
> > Would you find it acceptable to translate this, "Salvation be to our God
> > who has sat on the throne, and to the Lamb"?
> 
> No, I would translate this as "Salvation comes from our God who sits on the
> throne, and from the Lamb." But I could still accept the NET Bible which
> says "the one seated on the throne".
> Whether to translate a Greek present with present or something else in
> English is partly a matter of context, and it is the context that makes
> almost all English versions use "have come" in v. 14. Notice that the elder
> had just asked in v. 13: "Where did they come from?" with an aorist POQEN
> HLQON. Then John says, "I don't know", so the elder continues, "They are the
> ones coming out from... and they have washed..." I don't think one can
> squeeze much out of the present tense of the substantive participle. It
> seems more to me like "they are the survivors" rather than 
> the more strict
> "they are the ones who have survived."
> 
> Iver Larsen
>
I agree with Iver in this reply. I think that especially in the Revelation the present participle often is dominated by its adjectival functions and that we should not try and emphasize the time factor. Jesus is characterized as "coming" and God is characterized as "sitting on the throne." I do not usually want to emphasize the time but the picture that is drawn with words.

Carlton Winbery
Louisiana College



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