[B-Greek] Question about John 10:18

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Feb 1 07:49:53 EST 2008


But you really ought, as soon as possible, to rid yourself of the  
notion that there's any single "right" way to convert the Greek to  
English. There are better ways and there are not as good ways; on the  
other hand there are lots of "wrong" or "bad" ways. And as soon as you  
can manage it, you ought to start thinking through the Greek as a mode  
of communication with its own patterns rather than as a code to be  
deciphered into English, as if English were what it ought to have been  
composed in originally, if that were possible.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)


On Feb 1, 2008, at 7:40 AM, Susan Jeffers wrote:

> oops. I meant to send this as plain text.  sorry if it duplicates.
>
> Hi Matthew
>
> I recommend using both the NIV and the NRSV to check your work against
> the Mounce answer key.  NRSV tends to be a little closer to the Greek
> most of the time, but they're both very worthwhile for getting a sense
> of the meaning in Greek.  And they help explain why the answer key is
> what it is, sometimes, when the snippet in the exercise is very short
> and out-of-context.
>
> For John 10:18
> NIV This command I received from my Father
> NRSV I have received this command from my Father
>
> Tomato, tomato indeed.
>
> Blessings,
>
> Susan Jeffers
> having taught using Mounce and used modern translations with the  
> answer key
>
> Matthew Blair wrote:
>> Hugh,
>>
>> Thank you for the input.  I *knew* these two were the same, but  
>> still....as
>> a new student I always have to wonder if there is some rule I  
>> didn't know
>> about :-)
>>
>> Thanks again,
>>
>> Matthew
>>
>> On Jan 31, 2008 10:25 PM, Hugh Donohoe Jr.  
>> <justusjcmylord at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Matthew,
>>>
>>> Tomato Tomato
>>>
>>> Your literal translation puts the accusative "this
>>> commandment" in its natural place in English, after
>>> the verb.
>>>
>>> The NIV translation replicates the Greek word order in
>>> what is still natural English idiom.
>>>
>>> Both are correct. The NIV with a formal equivalence
>>> philosophy ironically is more literal here (if you
>>> count replicating word order as more literal). I guess
>>> the NIV captures the emphasis of the demonstrative
>>> pronoun and its first position in the sentence. If
>>> John intended such emphasis.
>>>
>>> ex animo
>>>
>>> Hugh Donohoe







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