[B-Greek] PARAPTWMA and PARAPIPTW

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 15 12:36:13 EDT 2005


At 4:55 PM +0200 4/15/05, A. J. Birch wrote:
>Dear Professor Conrad,
>
>I don't want to 'press a case' where there isn't one to 'press', but I
>would appreciate any comments you may have on the combined use of the noun
>PARAPTWMA and the verb PARAPIPTW in the LXX of Ezekiel (14:13; 15:8;
>18:24; 20:27). Is the verb being used in these texts in a general way (i.
>e. simply meaning 'to commit' sin(s)? What led me to this was the only (?)
>'appearance' of the verb PARAPIPTW in the Greek New Testament (in Hebrews
>6:6), where the verb seems to have a meaning closer to its etymology than
>is the case with the noun.

It's an interesting question. I retain my doubts about the etymological
association.

Ezekiel 14:13 is interesting in that it uses BOTH verbs, hAMARTANW and
PARAPIPTW--and both seem to refer to rebellion against God or violation of
God's will in general rather than specific terms:

hUIE ANQRWPOU, GH EAN hAMARTHi MOI TOU PARAPESEIN PARAPTWMA KAI EKTENW THN
CEIRA MOU EP' AUTHN KAI SUNTRIYW AUTHS STHRIGMA ARTOU KAI EXAPOSTELW EP'
AUTHN LIMON KAI EXARAW EX AUTHS ANQRWPON KAI KTHNH ...

Here and in other LXX entries, esp. from Ezekiel the verb doesn't seem to
refer to a concrete instance of transgression/violation of God's will, but
rather to disown God and His will. PARAPTWMA here appears not to be a
direct object but rather to be in the cognate accusative reflecting the
Hebrew construct infinitive. So the expression PARAPESEIN PARAPTWMA does
indeed seem to be general--not "commit a sin" but "be unfaithful in
unfaithfulness" or something like that. This differs, I think, from Eph 2:1
where both nouns are in the plural.

According to BDAG the later sense seems to be akin to that of hAMARTANW

PARAPIPTW In the pap mostly = become lost) lit. 'fall beside', then 'go
astray, miss' (Polyb. 3, 54, 5 THS hODOU; fig. 12, 12, 2 THS ALHQEIAS; 8,
11, 8 TOU KAQHKONTOS); abs. (X., Hell. 1, 6, 4; Polyb. 18, 36, 6=make a
mistake) and in the sense to fail to follow through on a commitment, fall
away, commit apostasy (Wsd 6:9; 12:2; Ezk 22:4) Hb 6:6 (s. K Bornhaeuser,
Empfaenger u. Verf. des Hb '32). Also w. acc. of inner content (cognate;
B-D-F §154; Rob. 477f) hOSA PAREKPESAMEN whatever sins we have committed 1
Cl 51:1.-M-M. TW.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list