[B-Greek] hEN DE (Phil 3:13)

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 11 23:02:15 EST 2006


I tend to think that the more usual translation "Brothers, I don't think I've arrived, but this one thing I do . . ." is more accurate.  hEN references what follows which are verbs of action, not of thought.
 
george
gfsomsel
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Webb <webb at selftest.net>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 10:38:24 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] hEN DE (Phil 3:13)


ADELFOI, EGW EMAUTON OU [some mss: OUPW] LOGIZOMAI KATEILHFENAI, hEN DE, TA
MEN OPISW EPILANTHANOMENOS, TOIS DE EMPROSQEN EPEKTEINOMENOUS...

The great majority of translations I have consulted interpret hEN DE as "But
one thing I do". But my first reaction was to take flow of the thought to
be, "I don't reckon X, but one thing I DO reckon is...". The result (closer
to Moffatt, NJB, NEB, Williams, Phillips) might look like:

Brothers and sisters, I don't determine myself to have reached it [some mss:
reached it yet]. But I have determined one thing: I'm forgetting what's
behind me, and reaching out for what's in front of me.

Or, in less literal and concordant but more understandable English:

Brothers and sisters, I don't regard myself as having gotten there [some
mss: gotten there yet]. But I do know one thing: I'm forgetting what's
behind me, and reaching out for what's in front of me.

So hEN is read as the object of the implied verb LOGIZOMAI, and LOGIZOMAI
shifts from a reckoning of fact in the first instance to a reckoning of an
appropriate course of action or attitude in the second, implicit, instance.

Is there anything impossible about this? Anything improbable?

Webb Mealy


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