[B-Greek] Accusative of retained object
Bert de Haan
b_dehaan at sympatico.ca
Mon May 21 11:59:51 EDT 2007
The second part of Rom.3:2 reads;
ÏÏá¿¶Ïον μὲν á½
Ïι á¼ÏιÏÏεύθηÏαν Ïá½° λόγια
Ïοῦ θεοῦ.
PRWTON MEN hOTI EPISTEUQHSAN TA LOGIA TOU QEOU.
I could not figure this line out even though it is only short and I know all
the words.
TA LOGIA is what caused the difficulty. The translations I checked have
something like 'with the words of God'.
First of all, they were entrusted with the words of God.
I found what maybe an explanation in Wallace's GGBB on page 438.
I will quote some of it.
"Although it seems a bit odd to native English speakers, Greek sometimes
uses an accusative with a true passive verb. The major usage for such a
structure involves the accusative of retained object. In this instance, the
accusative of thing in a double accusative person-thing construction with an
active verb retains its case when the verb is put in the passive. The
accusative of person, in such instances, becomes the subject. This use of
the accusative occurs most frequently with causative verbs, though it is
rare in the NT."
Is there a reason why the accusative case is retained instead of using a
genitive (or maybe a dative here)?
Does it emphasize something or is it just "one of those things"?
Can you possibly provide a paragraph # in Smyth that deals with this?
Thanks
Bert de Haan
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