[B-Greek] John 15:9 - Use of Dative

George F Somsel gfsomsel at juno.com
Thu Jun 9 11:10:12 EDT 2005


On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:42:48 -0500 "Jason Lewis" <jason at marymag.com>
writes:
> In John 15:9 there is a use of the dative where it seems a genitive 
> would
> seem more suitable. The phrase in question reads, "MEINATE EN TH 
> AGAPAH TH
> EMN." Why is TH EMH in the dative? Is this a dative of sphere or is 
> this
> another use of the dative with which I am unfamiliar?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jason Lewis
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TEXT

KAQOWS HGAPHSEN ME hO PATHR, KAGW hUMAS HGAPHSA; MEINATE EN THi AGAPHi
THi EMHi

The adj. agrees with the noun which it modifies.  I note that you express
no surprise that EMHi is feminine though it is feminine for the same
reason that it is dative.  In this case EMHi must agree with THi AGAPHi
which puts it in the dative and makes it a feminine (though I think we
all agree that Jesus was male) -- "my love."  You probably expected the
possessive pronoun, but that is not what we have.

george
gfsomsel
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