[B-Greek] MH EPI PORNEIA in Matthew 19:9
Will Dilbeck
will.dilbeck at gmail.com
Tue Feb 17 16:59:42 EST 2009
Hello,
I realize that this is a highly controversial issue, thus I wish to preface
this email by saying that my question is of a strictly grammatical nature.
My question is this, why do most (if not all) English versions translate the
"exception clause" of Matthew 19:9 as "except for fornication"?
In other words, I cannot see in any way how MH EPI PORNEIA could be
translated as "except for fornication". In Matthew 5:32, the clause PAREKTOS
LOGOU PORNEIAS can certainly be translated as "except for the reason of
unchasity" (NASB). But as far as I can tell, this is not equivelant to the
clause in Matthew 19:9.
I have done quite a bit of research as to this question and I have yet to
find ONE commentary that addresses this grammatical question. I have also
read a paper concerning Erasmus' addition to his 1st edition of his
Greek-Latin New Testament (he added EI to the above stated clause of Matthew
19:9, thus making it read EI MH EPI PORNEIA or "except for fornication").
This seems possible, but I again, this seems to be getting away from our
text as we have it.
Thanks in advance,
Will Dilbeck
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