[B-Greek] 1 John 3.8 present tense hAMARTANEI
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue May 23 05:55:00 EDT 2006
On May 22, 2006, at 9:19 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> ...AP ARCHS hO DIABOLOS hAMARTANEI...
>
> The present tense verb is usually translated "he was
> sinning" or "he has been sinning." Is there a more
> accurate way to convey the present tense of this verb
> in this construct?
For my part, I think that "has been sinning" is appropriate English
-- unless you use a still more expressive "is a sinner now and has
been since the beginning." The present has that perfective sense when
qualified by an adverbial temporal phrase such as AP' ARCHS.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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