[B-Greek] PEIRAZW--"Dare"? (Acts 24:6)
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Fri Dec 7 11:15:02 EST 2007
Certainly PEIRAZW with the infinitive CAN mean "to attempt
without success," and it DOES mean this in e.g. Acts 9:29
(Paul tried without success to be joined to the Disciples)
but Webb's point is that it does not HAVE to mean this, if
the context suggests he actually profaned the Temple. I'm
not sure if PEIRAZW with the infinitive can mean "I dare"
in the same sense as TOLMAW. If so, I would go with that,
but with just a quick look I could not find any examples of
this. As far as "he tempted (God or the Temple) BY
profaning it," I'm not sure the bare infinitive would
compliment PEIRAZW in this sense; it seems like
you would expect a participle. But I think Webb is on
to something. I'm not sure why Tertullus would be
making the point that Paul failed to profane the
Temple. If anyone can find an instance of
PEIRAZW with the infinitive meaning "I dare" or
"I tempt by X," I would agree with Webb. Even if not, I
still think it is possible it means that here. Context is for me
the deciding factor.
Mark L.
"Did Achilles know that some of his dipthongs were spurious?"
"Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 at comcast.net> wrote:
Webb Mealy wrote:
> hOS [PAULOS] KAI TO hIERON EPEIRASEN BEBHLWSAI, hON KAI EKRATHSAMEN (Acts
> 24:6)
>
>
>
> When I read the words EPEIRASEN BEBHLWSAI here, the impression I get is,
>
>
>
> He even dared to profane the Temple, but we caught him.
>
>
>
> Im rather surprised that no other translation in front of me reads it this
> way. I guess the assumptions behind this rendering are:
>
>
>
> 1. They were accusing Paul of having brought Gentiles into the Temple
> precincts reserved for Jewswhich, if true, was not an attempt, but an
> actual desecration.
>
> 2. I tend to think that TO hIERON EPEIRASEN BEBHLWSAI can read as he
> tempted the Temple by profaning it, the Temple being metonymous for God.
>
>
>
> Comments?
>
When PEIRAZW/EKPEIRAZW is used with an infinitive it means "try/attempt to do
X".
Jeffrey
--
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
---------------------------------
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list