[B-Greek] Acts 7:16 - Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor (corr.)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Dec 11 05:12:57 EST 2006


On Dec 11, 2006, at 5:04 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

>
> 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

Sorry, that should be "buy" (not "bury") ... I must have derived some
suggestion from the antecedent MNHMATI and the relative pronoun
hWi that is attracted to the case of MNHMATI.

> 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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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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