[B-Greek] Acts 7:16 - Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Dec 11 05:04:52 EST 2006
On Dec 11, 2006, at 3:25 AM, Steven Avery wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> Acts 7:16 (KJB)
> And were carried over into Sychem,
> and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money
> of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
>
> I have a follow-up question to a 1999 post.
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/1999-March/004738.html
>
> MY QUESTION ..
>
> Does the Greek mandate the idea of
> "Abraham bought from ... "
> As is generally in modern translations though not the KJB,
> Emphasized or Douay-Rheims.
>
> Or would there be a stronger construction to indicate that
> precise idea of
> "buying from ... " .
>
> I realize that without that idea one has to discuss exactly how
> "of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem." connects within the
> context
> of the speech. Gill gives two ideas, which had short negative
> comment
> on that thread, Wesley another, and there may be more.
>
> However all that is secondary to my question for this forum.
>
> Would there be a more direct or forceful Greek construction
> than what
> is in Acts 7:16 for
>
> "buying from ... " a person.
The text: KAI METETEQHSAN EIS SUCEM KAI ETEQHSAN EN TWi MNHMATI hWi
WNHSATO ABRAAM TIMHS ARGURIOU PARA TWN hUIWN hEMMWR EN SUCEM
The verb here is WNEOMAI, regularly middle with sense of "bury" and
used with a genitive of price or value. The phrase PARA TWN hUIWN
hEMMWR used in this context with the aorist middle WNHSATO can hardly
be interpreted otherwise than as an indication of the source from
whom the MNHMA was purchased. This verse is the only instance of the
verb WNEOMAI in the Greek Bible, but the verb is attested in extra-
Biblical Greek literature and other instances of the same
construction WNEOMAI + PARA TINOS with the sense "purchase from
(someone)."
You may look at the Perseus site for other words with "purchase" in
the definition, but there is really no doubt regarding the precise
sense of the Greek of Acts 7:16 (as Jonathan Robie, I might note,
stated in the only reply to the original March 1999 inquiry).
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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