[B-Greek] Third Person Form for Courtly Second Person Address in Acts 26:26?
Webb Mealy
webb at selftest.net
Wed Dec 12 23:59:57 EST 2007
EPISTATAI GAR PERI TOUTWN hO BASILEUS, PROS hON KAI PARRHSIAZOMENOS LALW-OU
GAR ESTIN EN GWNIAi PEPRAGMENON TOUTO (Acts 26:26)
26 And the king knows about these things, so I'm speaking openly to him.
After all, I'm convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, since it
didn't happen in a corner. (SENT draft)
I had taken v. 26 as a continuation of Paul's retort to Festus, who is not a
Jew. I thought Paul was addressing Festus and asserting that Festus didn't
understand enough about internal Jewish affairs to get the weight of what
Paul was saying. I then thought Paul in v. 27 turned to Agrippa for support
in his contention that his discourse made sense in a Jewish context. But
some translations understand Paul as addressing Agrippa, the quasi-Jewish
king, starting right in v. 26, so that "The king knows about these things"
equals "You, O King, know about these things", and so on.
Is the convention relative to courtly discourse clear enough to tip the
balance firmly in the direction of the latter way of taking Paul's words?
Webb Mealy
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