[B-Greek] Mk 10:13 Force of Imperfect + Aorist

Webb Mealy webb at selftest.net
Mon Apr 28 12:39:44 EDT 2008


Mk 10:13

KAI PROSEFERON AUTWi PAIDIA hINA AUTWN hAYHTAI,

hOI DE MAQHTAI EPETIMHSAN AUTOIS.

 

Question: which of these renderings best captures the sense of the imperfect
PROSEFERON and the aorist EPETIMHSAN?

 

People started bringing Jesus children to touch, but his followers scolded
them.

 

They were bringing him children to touch, but his followers were scolding
them.

 

People were trying to bring him children to touch, but his followers scolded
them.

 

As English, I like the second of these. Is it possible that the imperfect
PROSEFERON sets an imperfect tone to the statement that the “vanilla” (i.e.
unmarked) aorist does nothing to shift? Because if you render EPETIMHSAN as
a preterit in English, it feels like a “clunk”, a disjunction in the time
sense, has happened. Has it indeed? If so, what is conveyed in that
disjunction, and how can it be conveyed most naturally into English?

 

Webb Mealy


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