[B-Greek] 2 Thess. 2:6-7--two proposals

Webb webb at selftest.net
Thu Mar 1 15:02:21 EST 2007


Dear Oun,
1.  Difference btw active vs passive -- may it have something to do
with the nature of 'middle' in Gk?

Not to me, it doesn't. It has to do with my understanding that GINOMAI is
strictly an intransitive verb. It never EVER takes an object. If a verb
can't take an object, you can't turn it into a passive. In English, for
example, the verb "to be" doesn't take an object. Like GINOMAI, it can take
a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective and whatnot, but it can't
take an object. If a verb (let's say X is a verb) is capable of being
transitive, then it is capable of taking an object. "I X this thing." For
the most part, that also means that I can use the object as the subject, and
throw the verb into the passive voice to express an equivalent statement:
"This thing is Xed by me". But you can't say "I am ammed". There is no
passive voice for the verb "to be", or for any strictly intransitive verb. 
So in 2 Thess. 2:7, whatever GENHTAI means, it can't mean that something
else acts on the subject of the verb. Whatever action there is, is carried
out by the subject. From my limited knowledge of Greek, ARTI hEWS EK MESOU
GENHTAI can't possibly mean "until he is taken out of the way" (pace KJV,
NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

2.  It should be 'And now you know what's ~ ', not 'And you know what's now
~'
I've got a lot of translations in front of me, including Lattimore, who is
not particularly influenced by the English bible translation tradition. No
one them takes NUN with OIDATE. I'm inclined to trust them on this.

Webb Mealy





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