[B-Greek] Revelation 11:3 (Verb Tense)

Juan Stam juanstam at racsa.co.cr
Mon Nov 28 08:24:22 EST 2005


Greetings from Costa Rica!

Los tiempos verbales in Rev 11 seem chaotic, switching constantly with no 
apparent reason I can find. 11:3 is futuro but 4-6 switches to past, the 
11:7 back to future, 11:8-10b in present, 11:10c in future, 11:10d-14a om 
aorist and 11:14b in present. (Hope I recorded these correctly; at any rate, 
there seems to be no consistency or logic in the tenses)

Or can someone explain all those shifts?
If not, the future tense of 11:3 tells us little or nothing about the 
narrative of 11:3-13, that I can discover.

Juan Stam, Costa Rica


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <kgraham0938 at comcast.net>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 7:54 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Revelation 11:3 (Verb Tense)


> @Glen: Rev 11:3
>
> KAI DWSW TOIS DUSIN MARTUSIN MOU KAI PROFHTEUSOUSIN hHMERAS CILIAS 
> DIAKOSIAS hEXHKONTA PERIBEBLHMENOI SAKKOUS
> Welcome to B-Greek.  I think your friend may have been a little off, the 
> first verb DWSW is future tense of DIDWMI which means "give."
> So you'd get "and I will give."
> And the second verb PROFHTEUSOUSIN is also future, meaning and "they will 
> prophesy."  The last verb is PERIBEBLHMENOI and that is a perfect 
> participle of PERIBALLW which means "to put on something, normally some 
> form of clothing."
> So there is no aorist in Rev 11:3. If an aorist were there everything 
> would be in the past tense.
>
>
>
> --
> Kelton Graham
> KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net
>
> -------------- Original message -------------- 
>
>> Hi B-Greek people,
>>
>> I would really appreciate your input on a question regarding the English
>> translation from Greek of a particular verse of scripture that I'm 
>> researching.
>> Someone told me that the verb tense of Revelation 11:3, which deals with 
>> those
>> who are mysteriously called "two witnesses" (whoever they are!), is in 
>> the
>> "Aorist tense" in Greek.
>>
>> Even after looking up and reading the definition of the "Aorist tense," 
>> and
>> since I'm just a newcomer to Greek, I would like to understand how that 
>> might
>> alter the way the verse could be translated into English. Obviously, in 
>> English
>> it is simply presented in the future tense: "And I will give power unto 
>> my two
>> witnesses, and they shall prophesy..." Therefore, in your opinion 
>> (anyone!), how
>> might the "Aorist" verb tense alter the usual translation?
>>
>> Thanks for any help with this you can provide!
>>
>> In Christ,
>> Glenn Allen (Bartow, FL)
>> --- 
>> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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> ---
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