[B-Greek] Pres Act Ind "he does"
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat May 5 05:37:33 EDT 2007
On May 4, 2007, at 11:36 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> Matt 17.11b
>
> HLIAS MEN ERCETAI KAI APOKATASTHSEI PANTA
>
> Some grammarians are troubled with the Present tense
> of ERCETAI, as if it should be future (Elijah shall
> come...).
The text and its phrasing seem to derive from Mal 3:22-23 (in
LXX and MT, 4:5-6 in English versions):
22 KAI IDOU EGW APOSTELLW hUMIN HLIAN TON
QEOBITHN PRIN ELQEIN hHMERAN KURIOU THN
MEGALHN KAI EPIFANH 23 hOS APOKATASTHSEI
KARDIAN PATROS PROS hUION KAI KARDIAN
ANQRWPOU PROS TON PLHSION AUTOU
MH ELQW KAI PATAXW THN GHN ARDHN.
Note Mark's parallel (perhaps earlier than Mt.'s formulation);
here the aorist circumstantial participle clearly differentiates
the time of coming and the action of restoration:
HLIAS MEN ELQWN PRWTON APOKAQISTANEI
PANTA.
> In English, is "he does" a Present tense verb?
Of course it is. I was taught that the English present
tense has regular ("he comes"), emphatic ("he does
come") and progressive ("he is coming") forms. I was
also taught that any or all of these is appropriate for
Englishing a Greek present tense.
> Can we
> then translate this "Elijah does come and (when he
> does) will restore all things."
I think the phrasing "Elijah does come" reflects the
fact that Jesus is answering the disciples' previous
question (Mt 17:10 = Mk 9:11):
TI OUN hOI GRAMMATEIS LEGOUSIN hOTI
HLIAN DEI ELQEIN PRWTON.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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