[B-Greek] used of hemas
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Dec 16 06:01:19 EST 2008
On Dec 15, 2008, at 11:47 PM, lalboy haokip wrote:
> The used of hemas (personal pronoun Accusative Singular) in Matt
> 17:4 is translated as Dative. it is translated as for us, instead of
> translating us why this accusative form is translated as dative?
Text: Matt. 17:4 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος
εἶπεν τῷ Ἰησοῦ· κύριε, καλόν ἐστιν
ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι· εἰ θέλεις, ποιήσω
ὧδε τρεῖς σκηνάς, σοὶ μίαν καὶ
Μωϋσεῖ μίαν καὶ Ἠλίᾳ μίαν. [APOKRIQEIS DE
hO PETROS EIPEN TWi IHSOU: KURIE, KALON ESTIN hHMAS hWDE EINAI, POIHSW
hWDE TREIS SKHNAS, SOI MIAN KAI MWUSEI MIAN KAI HLIAi MIAN]
You're looking at the English translation as if it were a literal
translation of the Greek, which it isn't. hHMAS is the subject of hWDE
EINAI, "us to be here" or "that we be here"; that whole infinitive
phrase hHMAS hWDE EINAI is the subject of the KALON ESTIN. You must
not imagine that any English translation necessarily reproduces the
structure of the Greek; "It is good for us to be here" is the most
normal way to express in English the content of the Greek -- but it is
certainly NOT the only way; the translator could have written, "It is
good that we be here" or "Our being here is a good thing." hHMAS is
accusative because the subject of an infinitive is normally
accusative, but do not suppose that the English translator is confused
about what the Greek says or means.\
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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