[B-Greek] John 3:31

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Oct 5 09:00:07 EDT 2006


It might be best to have the whole verse in view in order to see the  
phrase EK THS GHS in context:

Jn 3:31 hO ANWQEN ERCOMENOS EPANW PANTWN ESTIN: hO WN EK THS GHS EK  
THS GHS ESTIN KAI EK THS GHS LALEI. ...

I think that this Greek text presents more problems for an English  
translator than it does for one reasonably familiar with Greek who is  
trying to understand the Greek text. A literal Englishing of this  
text really doesn't work (e.g. -- putting it as "literally" as I know  
how --, "The one being out of the earth is out of the earth and  
speaks out of the earth"). One can find helpful hints in BDAG  
regarding the usage of EK + genitive-case here, but it almost seems  
that if one doesn't understand the Greek text intuitively one just  
might not understand it at all. There's the dualistic distinction  
here between what is "earthly" (EK THS GHS) and what is "heavenly" or  
"from on high" (ANWQEN). Is there any suggestion in the nominal  
phrase, hO WN EK THS GHS of Genesis 2:7? Possibly but not  
necessarily: it's a matter of the "sphere" to which one naturally  
belongs and that defines one's nature and governs one's speech.

So, Yes, I would find no fault with the English, "speaks from/with an  
earthly point of view."

But I think that more recent versions do express this clearly. NET  
renders Jn 3:31 thus: "The one who comes from above is superior to  
all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks  
about earthly things." The NET version renders each EK + genitive  
phrase differently ("from the earth," "belongs to the earth," and  
"about earthly things"): that conveys the meaning of the Greek  
accurately; the only thing lost in translation in this case is the  
author's deliberate repetition of the phrase EK THS GHS.

I think it's probably the case that word-play in John's gospel is  
better grasped by one who reads the Greek text as Greek text without  
endeavoring to convey it into English.

============
Forwarded (with revised formatting) for: "Pere Porta" <pporta at tinet.org>
Date: October 5, 2006 1:00:49 AM EDT
To: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] John 3:31


In John 3:31 we read EK THS GHS (LALEI). This is commonly traslated  
"(he speaks) of the earth". I think it should be rather translated as  
"(he speaks) from/with an earthly point of view".
Do you think so?

Pere Porta
========

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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