[B-Greek] Fw: Ascensive use of KAI in 2 Timothy 3:16

Iver Larsen iver at larsen.dk
Sun Jul 30 10:50:21 EDT 2006


From: "Harold Holmyard" <hholmyard at ont.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Ascensive use of KAI in 2 Timothy 3:16


> Leonard Jayawardena wrote:
>
>>The conjunction KAI in PASA GRAPH QEOPNEUSTOS KAI WFELIMOS... (2 Tim. 3:16) is said to be used "ascensively" or 
>>"adjunctively" when the verse is translated as in the New English Bible with KAI left out: "All God-breathed Scripture 
>>is profitable..."
>>
>>What exactly is the "ascensive" or "adjunctive" use of KAI and is it so used elsewhere in the NT?
>>
>>
> HH: Here is a note from B-Greek in 1999:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/1999-October/007804.html
>
> To: George Goolde,
>
> << I have chosen to identify three uses:
> 1. KAI can be connecting.  This is what Clayton calls a "clause initial
> KAI."  It has, I believe, very much the same force as DE.

The clause or sentence initial KAI is most of the time a carry-over from Hebrew style. It indicates that the theme is 
continuing with some added information. It has a very different discourse function from DE, almost the opposite.

> 2. KAI can be adjunctive.  In this use the coordinate aspect of the English
> "and" is emphasized.  It adds one thing to another, things of equal
> grammatical weight (two nouns, two verbs, two phrases, two clauses, etc).

This looks OK, but remember that the two nouns do not have to be semantically of equal weight. Often the two ideas 
connected by KAI overlap.

> 3. KAI can be ascensive.  In this use it does not introduce an additional
> element, but heightens the meaning of the previous element.  This is the
> use where KAI is often translated "even." >>

Here KAI is used as an adverb, and it heightens the force of the following word or prhase, not the previous element. 
There are more than 800 such instances in the NT.

HH:
> Personally, I don't think the NEB translation is very good. The Greek
> adjective corresponding to "God-breathed" is in the predicate position,
> and NEB has put it in the attributive position. In Greek "God-breathed"
> and "profitable" are coordinated, but NEB has broken the coordination. I
> believe KAI is simply a coordinating conjunction here and should be
> translated as "and."

Completely agree. The NEB has unnecessarily changed the meaning.

Iver Larsen 




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