[B-Greek] John 3:19 strange word order?

kgraham0938 at comcast.net kgraham0938 at comcast.net
Mon Aug 20 23:35:38 EDT 2007


Hey Bert.  Well I can see your why you would struggle with this.  PONHPA is in the first predicate position.  Which is adjective-article-noun, the second predicate position would be article-noun-adjective.  Since this is in the predicate position it should be "the works are evil."  The genitve being in front TA ERGA is not uncommon in Greek.  But the thing that I would be careful of is that even though HN here is singular; neuter plurals can take singular verbs.
--
Kelton Graham 
KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Bert de Haan" <b_dehaan at sympatico.ca> 

> John 3:19 is as follows: hAUTE DE ESTIN hH KRISIS TO FWS ELHLUQEN EIS TON 
> KOSMON KAI HGAPHSAN hOI ANQRWPOI MALLON TO SKOTOS H TO FWS; HN GAR AUTWN 
> PONHRA TA ERGA. 
> It is the last part (HN GAR AUTWN PONHRA TA ERGA)that is the cause of some 
> trouble for me. The word order seems strange. Especially HN at the beginning 
> of the sentence and AUTWN removed from TA ERGA threw me for a loop. PONHRA 
> GAR HN TA ERGA AUTWN would be what I would consider "normal." Is there any 
> thing strange about the way the second part of John 3:19 is written or is it 
> just my lack of experience with Greek that makes it appear that way to me? 
> Thank you, 
> Bert de Haan. 
> 
> 
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