[B-Greek] Acts 16:25 praying and singing?

Craig Johnson newsgroupstuff at gmail.com
Mon May 15 01:17:37 EDT 2006


> This is really nothing more than a matter of a Greek stylistic
> preference for subordination (hypotaxis) and an English preference
> for coordination (parataxis). All of the versions that you cite below
> are accurate English versions of the Greek text which you cited
> above. Your own version above ("When Paul and Silas were praying,
> they sang hymns to God") accurately conveys the content of the Greek
> but is not the "natural" idiomatic English way of expressing that
> content. One of the things that tends to surprise students of ancient
> Greek is the extent to which Greek subordinates elements that are
> commonly set forth in English as parallel to each other.

Okay, so if I understand you correctly, are you saying that Greek uses
subordination, but really it means coordination?

In other words, given the following options, which are allowed by the Greek:

A. Two separate activities (praying and singing) were occuring at the same time.
B. Singing is actually a part of or included in the praying

I think you are saying it is just the Greek way of saying A, but I was
incorrectly assuming it must mean B. Is that right?

Thanks

--
Craig Johnson
Brisbane, Australia.



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