[B-Greek] Using future as imperative?

Curtis Hinson curtis at curtishinson.com
Wed Nov 9 04:39:55 EST 2005


Well, Luke-writer here is quoting from a Greek version of Devarim, or 
more likely paraphrasing from memory to suit his point. Check your CF 
notes in a Nestle-Aland.  Rahlf's text reads:

Deuteronomy 6:13 κυριον τον θεον σου φοβηθηση και αυτω λατρευσεις και 
προς αυτον κολληθηση και τω ονοματι αυτου ομη
KURION TON QEON FOBHQHSH KAI AUTW LATREUSEIS KAI PROS AUTON KOLLHQHSH 
KAI TW ONOMATI AUTOU OMH

Which reads in BHS4 as:

את־יהוה אלהיך
תירא ואתו תעבד
ובשמו תשבע׃

Devarim 6:13  ´et-yhwh(´ädönäy) ´élöhʺkä Tîrä´ wü´ötô ta`áböd ûbišmô 
Tiššäbëª`

A couple of qal imperfects.  Soncino, Stone, Herz, and the Jewish 
Publication Society Tanakh render those as imperitives, "Thous shalt" or 
"You shall".  The Etz Chaim chumash reads "Revere only the Lord your God 
and worship Him alone, and swear only by His name."  In their commentary 
it says "worship.  And obey.  This is a common term in the ancient Near 
East both for worshiping deities and for obeying kings..."

I don't know why the future is used in Greek, but it is widely taken as 
a command in any case.  That whole section of Devarim is full of power, 
authority, and command-force.

Bless the Name
Curtis Hinson
http://curtishinson.com

Waldemar Martens wrote the following on 11/9/2005 1:16 AM:

>Hello List,
>I have a question about the following passage:
>KURION TON QEON SOU PROSKUNHSEIS KAI AUTW MONW LATREUSEIS (Luke 4,8b)
>
>The grammatical form of the two verbs ist future. So why this is commonly translated as:
>"You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. " (AKJV) ?
>I would translate this as.
>"You WILL worship the Lord your God and will serve him only"
>
>Did I missunderstand something?
>
>Waldemar Martens
>Student from Germany
>---
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>  
>




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