[B-Greek] John 8:40

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Feb 2 00:23:48 EST 2008


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerhard H. Visscher" <ghvisscher at mountaincable.net>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 2. februar 2008 03:53
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] John 8:40


> Greetings.
>
> Rather puzzled by the Greek of part of John 8:40.  Most translations render
> it something like: "As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has
> told you the truth that I heard from God."  The difficulty is that "who has
> told you" is first person singular (lelalaaka) rather than third (lelalaake)
> as in the translations.  Or does this have something to do with the relative
> pronoun and the "me" in the preceding phrase? Maybe I am overlooking
> something obvious but none of the grammarians seem to say anything about
> this.
>
> Thoughts on this would be helpful.

It is a difference between English and Greek. The relative "who" in English is third person, but in 
Greek, it agrees with the person it refers to:

Compare:

Act 22:3-4 EGW EIMI ANHR IOUDAIOS...hOS TAUTHN THN hODON EDIWXA

and 1 Cor 15:9, 2 Cor10:1, Rom 2:23.

Think of the Greek relative as a fusion of a personal and relative pronoun: I-who, you-who, he-who 
etc.
In a similar way, the Greek demonstrative is often a fusion of a demonstrative and a relative: 
that-which.

Iver Larsen 




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