[B-Greek] Eph. 4:26 translation question

Webb webb at selftest.net
Fri Jun 2 12:14:12 EDT 2006


hO hHLIOS MH EPIDUETO EPI TWi PARORGISMWi HUMWN MHDE DIDOTE TOPON TWi
DIABOLWi

 

I'm having difficulty making a satisfactory translation of this statement.

 

My current attempt looks like this:

 

Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and don't give space to the devil.

 

Is the first clause slightly misleading? (Would it be closer to the Greek to
render, "The sun shouldn't go down on your anger"?) Leaving that aside, in
English, the second part doesn't obviously connect to the first-although it
seems clear to me that Paul is saying, "don't let the sun go down on your
anger, BECAUSE THAT WILL give space to the devil". Can anyone comment on
this? Does MHDE introduce a separate idea here or does it complete the
current idea? I prefer the first, so I wonder if the sense doesn't come
across better as follows (translating MHDE with an em-dash):

 Don't let the sun go down on your anger-don't give space to the devil.

 Or: Don't let the sun go down on your anger-don't give the devil a foothold
[lit. room].

 

Any other proposals? Thanks for your thoughts,

 

Webb Mealy




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