[B-Greek] Dative agent in 2 Peter 3:14??

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Thu Dec 1 16:11:37 EST 2005


On Dec 1, 2005, at 3:45 PM, Lorinda Hoover and Jim Mossman wrote:

> 2 Peter 3:14:
>
> DIO, AGAPHTOI, TAUTA PROSDOKWNTES SPOUDASATE ASPILOI KAI AMWMHTOI  
> AUTWi
> hEUREQHNAI EN EIRHNHi.
>
> I'm trying to make sense of the last half of this verse.  My rough,  
> and
> admittedly awkward, translation is:
>
> "Therefore, beloved, while you are expecting these things, make  
> haste to be
> found spotless and blameless in him,[and] at peace."
>
> The NRSV, NIV, NASB, and Segond (French) all read AUTWi as the  
> agent of the
> passive verb.  But my grammar references indicate that the genetive  
> is used
> to indicate agency.
>
> Is this an unusual twist on the part of the author of 2 Peter, is this
> fairly common in Greek, or is there another way to read/translate this
> verse?

One does frequently enough find a "dative of agent" with an aorist  
passive, but not so frequently, I think when the verb is an  
infinitive rather than a narrative indicative. This verb hEURISKW in  
the so-called passive form hEUREQHNAI is a srange one. BDAG relates  
it to Hebrew NiMTSA s.v. 2 "be found, appear, prove, be shown (to  
be)." I personally think its force is more akin to a middle "prove  
oneself, appear" -- and if that's the case I really think that the  
dative AUTWi might better be understood as a dative of reference  
"before him" or "in his eyes."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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