[B-Greek] John 2:15
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Tue Sep 4 14:20:53 EDT 2007
On Sep 4, 2007, at 4:53 PM, reznik1 at juno.com wrote:
> I have a question concerning John 2:15.
> KAI POIHSAS FRAGELLION EK SCOINIWN PANTAS EXEBALEN EK TOU hIEROU TA
> TE PROBATA KAI TOUS BOAS...
> For this NKJV has:
> When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the
> temple, with the sheep and the oxen...
> The NIV gives:
> So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area,
> both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers
> and overturned their tables.
> As I understand, according to the NKJV, as well as most of the
> other versions, Jesus drove people (with the animals) with a whip,
> but according to the NIV, He used the whip only for animals. It
> seems to me that the NIV is more correct, not because I don't like
> beating people, but because of how the Greek phrased is
> constructed. Could you tell if I am wrong?
> Thanks,
> Dmitriy Reznik
JOHN 2:13 KAI EGGUS HN TO PASCA TWN IOUDAIWN, KAI ANEBH EIS
hIEROSOLUMA hO IHSOUS. 14 KAI hEUREN EN TWi hIERWi TOUS PWLOUNTAS
BOAS KAI PROBATA KAI PERISTERAS KAI TOUS KERMATISTAS KAQHMENOUS, 15
KAI POIHSAS FRAGELLION EK SCOINIWN PANTAS EXEBALEN EK TOU hIEROU TA
TE PROBATA KAI TOUS BOAS, KAI TWN KOLLUBISTWN EXECEEN TO KERMA KAI
TAS TRAPEZAS ANETREYEN, 16 KAI TOIS TAS PERISTERAS PWLOUSIN EIPEN:
ARATE TAUTA ENTEUQEN, MH POIEITE TON OIKON TOU PATROS MOU OIKON
EMPORIOU.
KJV vs NIV is off topic for this forum. The issue hinges on PANTAS in
PANTAS EXEBALEN EK TOU hIEROU TA TE PROBATA KAI TOUS BOAS. PANTA
would have been a better choice if the intention was to limit the
reference to TA TE PROBATA KAI TOUS BOAS. R.E.Brown (GJn AB) suggests
that Jesus used the "whip" on the men as well as the animals. See
also L.Morris (GJn NICNT 1st ed.) and Beasley-Murray (GJn WBC). I
don't think it is necessary to picture Jesus as whipping the owners
of the animals. The animals were valuable property, if Jesus drove
out the animals he would have driven out their owners as well who
would have had a keen interest in keeping their property under their
control. I think it is sufficient to take PANTAS as indicating a
collective entity including beasts and dealers.
Carson (GJn Pillar) tries to tone down this event to make it
inoffensive to his constituency. He suggests that Jesus didn't really
cause a serious disturbance in the temple or the Romans would have
intervened. Carson may have had something to say about how the NIV
reads at this point. But that is off topic.
Elizabeth Kline
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