[B-Greek] Revelation 4:6 EN MESW TOU QRONOU et al
Ted & Robin Shoemaker
shoes6 at juno.com
Thu Aug 16 12:55:21 EDT 2007
Hello,
My question relates to these passages:
Revelation 4:6 EN MESW TOU QRONOU KAI KUKLW TOU QRONOU
Four creatures were in the middle of the throne and around the throne
Revelation 4:9; 5:1, EPI TW QRONOU
Him who sits on the throne [see also 19:4]
Revelation 7:17 TO ANA MESOU TOU QRONOU
the Lamb at the center of the throne
Revelation 19:4, EPI TW QRONW
God sat on the throne [see also 4:9 & 5:1]
This is beginning to look like a very crowded throne!
Obviously, Revelation is a book of imagery. Nevertheless, let's assume that the reader/listener is intended to make some sense of that imagery, before interpreting it; otherwise it is nonsense.
My question relative to B-Greek is whether I am missing something in the vocabulary.
Is QRONOS better translated as something other than "throne"? (Remember, 4:9 says it is being sat upon.)
Or was an ancient QRONOS roomy enough to accomodate more than one occupier?
Is MESOS better translated as something other than "center, middle"?
A b-greeker in 2003 wrote that MESOS could be translated as "in the presence of".
And one b-greeker wrote, of some of these passages, "this reflects an Hebraic manner of speech"; and "some of the 'between's' can be dropped in translation". That still leaves me wondering.
(This could easily turn into an off-topic rambling. Let's limit our on-list discussion to the Greek only.)
Thank you.
Ted Shoemaker
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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