[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 09:37:11 EST 2006


What I tried to say, as clearly as I could, is that there is no  
ambiguity in the GREEK text of Acts 7:16; the verb is WNEOMAI, which  
does mean "purchase, buy", it is used with a genitive of price  
indicating the amount paid for what is purchased, and it is used with  
a PARA + genitive construction indicating the party or parties from  
whom the purchase is made. Those facts are quite clearly set forth in  
the Greek: that Abraham made the purchase, that he paid a "sum of  
money" (TIMHS ARGURIOU, lit. "a worth of silver"), and that he bought  
it FROM the sons of Emmor (PARA TWN hUIWN hEMMWR).

Your problem of ambiguity is evidently in the 17th-century KJV  
version where "of the sons of Emmor" clearly means "from the sons of  
Emmor." There really is no questioning that PARA + genitive of  
personal name in this context must means "from a/the person(s)."

In the original form of your question today, you seem to be  
questioning whether the KJV and other versions that use "bought of"  
might really mean something other than "bought from." And the answer  
is: No, they cannot mean anything else if they correctly represent  
the Greek text.

On Dec 11, 2006, at 9:03 AM, Schmuel wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Steven
>>>> 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 (snip)
>>>>    Would there be a more direct or forceful Greek construction  
>>>> than what is in Acts 7:16 for
>>>>   "buying from ... " a person.
>
> Barry H
>> You seem to be suggesting that the KJV has "buying from" but of  
>> course it has "bought for." As it is, the verb is aorist,  here  
>> indicating a simple past tense.  Perhaps you could clarify?
>
> Schmuel
> Thanks.
> I wasn't asking about the tense, although I should give it  
> properly :-)
>
> The land was "bought for" "a sum of money" and for the sepulchre.
> Of that there is no question here.
>
> The land was "bought from .. the sons of Emmor" in most translations,
> but at least three have, in English, a grammatical form that is  
> less definite
> and could allow for an alternate construction ..  "bought of".
>
> In English this could allow a sentence where "of the sons of Emmor"
> is not simply the object (source) of what was bought but in English it
> could be an oddly-placed phrase, in a telescoped verbal summary,  
> that relates to
> another aspect of the  exposition.  Since there are at least three  
> alternate ideas
> that have been proposed (Gill, Wesley, others) I didn't go into the  
> details of these
> but simply asked how mandated is the Greek.
>
> Carl Conrad
>> 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 "buy" 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.
>
> Thanks, this is my question in a nutshell, about which I am asking the
> scholarly viewpoint.
>
>> 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)."
>
> Is there an alternate word that simply means "from" in this context ?
> I still am curious about that aspect of the question.
> Or is this basically *the* way to say "purchased from..." ?
>
>> 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).
>
> Jonathan gave a one-line reply to a specific alternate construction
> mentioned by John Gill.  Since there are three or more alternate
> interps his answer could not be taken as there being no doubt
> about the precise sense of the Greek.
>
> In English I will give an example similar to an alternate readings
> where the hearers knowledge of context would influence the interp.
>
> "Haymarket square, the industrial heartland of the Windy City,
> once only a little greenmarket, of Sacco and Vanzetti"
>
> There is no doubt that this is an unusual construction, there is
> also no doubt that your contextual background helps you to
> know that Sacco and Vanzetti were not the kings of cucumbers.
>
> Shalom,
> Steven Avery
> Queens, NY
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Messianic_Apologetic
>
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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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