[B-Greek] Hebrews 1:1-2 EN

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Sat Dec 15 15:32:35 EST 2007


HEB. 1:1 POLUMERWS KAI POLUTROPWS PALAI hO QEOS LALHSAS TOIS PATRASIN  
EN TOIS PROFHTAIS  2 EP' ESCATOU TWN hHMERWN TOUTWN ELALHSEN hHMIN EN  
hUIWi, hON EQHKEN KLHRONOMON PANTWN, DI' hOU KAI EPOIHSEN TOUS AIWNAS:

Several assumptions are made here which should be questioned.

The assumption that two EN + dative constituents in a parallel  
construction must be semantically identical.
EN + dative is very common. Danker (BDAG) places instrumental EN +  
dative and personal agency under different headings at the same level  
whereas BDF 219.1 lists personal agency under the heading of  
instrumental. Westcott appears (??) to take it as a locative, but  
Ellingworth and Koester call it as an instrumental. Quibbling over  
this in regard to  Hebrews 1:1-2 gets us nowhere.

The inferential ambiguity of EN + dative in the greek text isn't  
translatable because no target language will have exactly the same  
semantic mapping for a prepositional phrase. When you translated it  
you end up damaging the goods. This ambiguity is a very important  
aspect of the semantics of the original. Translating it via  
paraphrase reduces the ambiguity. Any attempt at a so called literal  
translation will skew the ambiguity. You end up with damaged goods in  
both cases. Take this question up in a translation forum.

What makes this parallel construction powerful in greek is precisely  
that fact that it cannot be semantically pinned down. An attempt to  
prove that EN TOIS PROFHTAIS is semantically identical to EN hUIWi is  
bound to fail because the argument of Hebrews is decidedly against  
it. Hebrews is a book filled with comparisons of the old and the new  
and the stress is on the difference between the old and the new.

Cognitive approaches to semantics recognize the importance of  
inferential ambiguity. The classic approaches to exegesis which  
attempt to remove ambiguity by forcing us to choose one of several  
alternatives are based on the code model for language. Ambiguity is a  
positive and beneficial attribute of texts not just a problem to be  
solved and removed.


Elizabeth Kline

On Dec 15, 2007, at 9:08 AM, Alderman, Jim wrote:

> The parallel structure of the first two verses of Hebrews is quite
> striking, especially if viewed in a diagram.  Here is a sentence  
> tree of
> these verses, albeit using Marshall's literal translation, which I am
> using with a study group:
> http://www.freewebs.com/jlaindy/Hebrews%20Mind%20Map/index.html.
>
>
>
> My question is regarding the two phrases "by the prophets" (EN TOIS
> PROFHTAIS) and "by a son" (EN hUIWi).  Both PROFHTAIS and hUIWi are
> dative.  EN would literally be translated "in" but more naturally "by"
> for readability in this context.  In a previous message
> (http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2004-July/030716.html), a
> case was made for requiring EN to "bear the sense 'by means of' or
> 'through the instrumentality of.' "
>
>
>
> With both occurrences of EN being in the same sentence, both with the
> dative and especially considering the parallel construction, could  
> there
> be any reasonable argument made for translating them differently?  In
> other words, I am not concerned with how EN is translated, but that  
> both
> occurrences should be translated the same way - not in general, but  
> only
> in this specific situation.
>








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