[B-Greek] Mk 6:8b EI MH ... MH ... MH ...

Oun Kwon kwonbbl at gmail.com
Sun May 28 11:28:53 EDT 2006


On 5/28/06, Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:

<clipped>

> (2) Iver says that the grammar doesn't resolve Oun's
> question: that may be so, if Oun's question is primarily concerned
> with harmonizing the different Synoptic formulations of Jesus'
> "missionary instructions,"


OJK:

Harmonizing itself is not my concern here. [Of course, in reading the
Bible, it has to be dealt with. I just cannot simply bypassing it by
saying 'well, this text is different from the other and one is just in
error and so be it.' Before I can accept any explanation in the
commentaries, I have to see the Gk text itself and understand  from
it.]  So, it was just a starting point to let me look at the Gk text.
And then I saw ...

> but the question actually raised by Oun
> was understanding the construction of Mark 6:8 -- and, for my part, I
> am convinced that the question concerning Mark 6:8 can readily be
> understood and resolved in terms of Greek grammar without any need to
> resort to Semitic thought patterns. There's a good deal of ellipsis
> here, but I think Oun's chief problem here was in dissociating the MH
> of EI MH from the EI, trying to take the EI by itself as "except,"
> and viewing this MH as one of the series of MH's that follow.
>

OJK:  Yes, it is where I have got stuck and I pulled out my surgical
knife and cut through between EI and MH ;-)  and then I knew I need
help to stitch it up by getting a better grip on this Gk sentence.

> Let's look at the whole text again, supplying an elliptical [AIRWSIN]
> where I think it is essential to understanding the grammatical
> construction:
>
> Mark 6:8 KAI PARHGGEILEN AUTOIS hINA MHDEN AIRWSIN EIS hODON EI MH
> hRABDON MONON [AIRWSIN], MH ARTON [AIRWSIN], MH PHRAN [AIRWSIN], MH
> EIS THN ZWNHN CALKON [AIRWSIN], ...
>
> This can be Englished almost literally with insertion of the
> equivalent of the elliptical [AIRWSIN] in the appropriate places
> without altering the fundamental structure of the Greek phrasing:
>
> "And he told them not to carry anything for the trip if they don't
> carry just a staff, not to carry a loaf of bread, not to carry a
> knapsack, not to carry loose coin in their belt, ..."
>
> But it makes perfectly good sense if one uses in English the same
> ellipsis as does the Greek:
>
> "And he told them not to take anything for the trip except just a
> staff, no loaf of bread, no knapsack, no loose change in their
> belt, ..."
>

Thanks. to all. I will keep EI and MH together. Thanks George for a
good example of EI MH in the preceding paragraph in the text. [As to
understanding the actual scene of the narrative, as Iver pointed out
'two' tunics in Lk is followed by sandals and staff in the list in Mt,
which (if taken as 'extra') seems helpful.]

Oun Kwon.



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