[B-Greek] him which is, and which was, and which is to come
Iver Larsen
iver at larsen.dk
Tue Nov 22 01:34:14 EST 2005
Hi, Webb,
It is morning again here where I am, so just a brief comment:
> The reason to translate it that way is to convey into English as much of the
> feel for John's poetry as possible. I'm operating on three principles:
>
> 1. Prophets--and John in particular--typically use poetry to convey their
> inspired messages.
>
> 2. The effect of the sounds of the words is of the essence of poetry. Rhyme,
> assonance, alliteration, meter, and so on all describe poetic techniques
> that deepen the impact of a message through sound. It is universally
> understood that poetry gives itself "license" to bend the usual conventions
> of grammar in order to create these effects.
>
> 3. To the extent that I as translator am able, I should do my best to
> transmit into English some sense of the poetic texture that my author is
> creating.
>
> Between them, these principles explain why I might render the expression APO
> hO WN KAI hO HN KAI hO ERCOMENOS as "from the is, the was, and the coming
> one," and not, "from the one who is, the was, and the one to come". In
> English, the two breaches together, through their sound resonance, support
> and explain one another, whereas in Greek, the one breach is supported and
> explained by its sound relationship with the participle that it parallels:
> hO WN KAI hO HN.
It is true that there is a certain poetic license and that a translator ought to try to convey poetic elements in one
language with corresponding poetic elements in another language.
However, the lack of agreement with APO seems to indicate that hO WN was considered by John as a title, and as has been
said by others, names and fixed titles are more resistant to agreement, especially in Revelation. Likewise, hO HN and hO
ERCOMENOS are used as titles in Revelation. The last one occurs 3 times, while both the title hO WN and hO HN occur 5
times.
I prefer to render the statement: "from He, who is, who was and who is to come." It is a more accurate rendering of the
Greek text and more poetic than your suggestion. "From the is" gives a far too abstract connotation, when the reference
ought to be to a person, not a principle.
If you aspire to become a good (inspired?) translator, you can learn a lot from other, professional translators.
RSV and NIV say: "from him who is and who was and who is to come"
NET says: "from "he who is," and who was, and who is coming" (the quotes around "he who is" are meant to indicate that
this is probably intended as a title and an allusion to Exod 3:14 (LXX)). The title hO WN has been used for centuries in
the Greek Orthodox tradition, but I do not know how far back that tradition goes. Very many icons show that title by
using the three letters O W N.
Iver Larsen
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