[B-Greek] Jn 21.13 & 21.15 How much do you love me?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Dec 16 02:31:03 EST 2006


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <RRedden604 at aol.com>


> Fellows,
>
>  An ambiguous use of the pronoun, either intentional or not,  whose
> antecedent can be fish or the love of the other men for  Jesus.  I vote for fish!
> Once a fisherman always a  fisherman!
>
> Rob Redden

I can see the tongue in cheek, but still...

Because of the way ellipsis works in the Greek there is really no ambiguity in AGAPAiS ME PLEON 
TOUTWN, confer the discussion of this topic in May 2002. One has to carry over the verb and object 
from the first part of the sentence to the next: Dou you love me more than these (love me)?
The ambiguity is introduced by the literal rendering of the KJV and subsequent literal versions, 
because English has different rules for ellipsis. The correct English translation is: Do you love me 
more than these do.
This is just one of numerous examples where literal translations can easily mislead the readers.

Iver Larsen 




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