[B-Greek] Matt. 1:1 - GENESIS
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Jan 1 06:47:20 EST 2007
On Monday, January 01, 2007, at 06:15AM, "A. J. Birch" <a_j_birch at yahoo.es> wrote:
>Dear 'B-Greekers',
>
>This may have come up before, but a Google search didn't find anything
>(maybe I didn't do it right).
>
>Bearing in mind:
>
>(1) the use of GENESIS in Matt. 1:18 (according to the best manuscripts);
>
>(2) its use in Luke 1:14 (is there any manuscript support for GENNHSIS
>there?);
>
>(3) the only other occurrences in the Greek N. T. (?): James 1:23 and James
>3:6;
>
>(4) the existence of a perfectly good word for 'genealogy' (GENEALOGIA);
>
>wouldn't 'birth' be the most natural translation in Matt. 1:1?
I don't really think so, no.
First, a very brief word about translation-philosophy, which generally lies outside the scope of BG discussion: a good translation is not a word-for-word equivalent but a re-expression in the target language of the sense of the original text and context.
The Greek word GENESIS means essentially "coming into being" in a sense extending beyond biological generation; even when referring to biological generation its sense extends beyond the birth of a single person or creature. In the broadest sense it can encompass all that has a bearing upon the coming to be of an individual or group or the coming to pass of a particular event or group of events (e.g. a war).
In Mt 1:1 something else seems involved: a deliberate imitation of LXX usage of GENESIS to represent the Hebrew word, "toledoth," which can mean "generations" or "lineage" or -- like the Greek word GENESIS -- "coming into being" of a person or a group or -- a world ...
Genesis 2:4 in the LXX reads hAUTH hH BIBLOS GENESEWS OURANOU KAI GHS hOTE EGENETO hH hHMERAi EPOIHSEN hO QEOS TON OURANON KAI THN GHN and THAT represents the Hebrew "These are the generations ("toledoth) of the heavens ... "
So there's considerably more involved in understanding and Englishing the word GENESIS in Mt 1:1 than the precise one-word gloss whereby the word GENESIS can be represented.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (ret)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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