[B-Greek] MH EPI PORNEIA in Matthew 19:9

Will Dilbeck will.dilbeck at gmail.com
Tue Feb 17 19:12:09 EST 2009


Thanks for all the responses. I certainly did not intend to make this a
translation issue. I am sorry if my question veered us in that direction.

I guess my question then is must MH EPI PORNEIA be understood as "except for
fornication"?

On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 5:29 PM, George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:

>   The goal of the translator is to make an understandable translation
> (though this forum is not really about translation).  One may quibble
> regarding whether the translation represents the original with 100% accuracy
> sytactically (which is the disagreement regarding "formal equivalency" and
> more free "meaning based" translations), but in either case precise
> syntactic accuracy is not always the objective.  The objective is
> comprehensibility.
> george
> gfsomsel
>
>
> … search for truth, hear truth,
> learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
> defend the truth till death.
>
>
> - Jan Hus
> _________
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Will Dilbeck <will.dilbeck at gmail.com>
> *To:* Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 at earthlink.net>
> *Cc:* B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 17, 2009 5:25:00 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [B-Greek] MH EPI PORNEIA in Matthew 19:9
>
> Harold,
>
> Thanks for your response. However, I did not say "I can't see anyway how
> 'not for fornication' could *imply *'except for fornication.'" I said, "I
> cannot see in any way how MH EPI PORNEIA could be *translated* as 'except
> for fornication'. It seems to me the translaters went above mere
> translation
> when they introduced an implication into the clause. I recoginize that this
> happens a lot in translation.
>
> Thanks again,
> Will
>
> On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 4:14 PM, Harold Holmyard
> <hholmyard3 at earthlink.net>wrote:
>
> > Will,
> >  >
> > > 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.
> > >
> >
> > HH: You can't see "in any way" how "not for fornication" could imply
> > "except for fornication." Just put the phrase in the context and try to
> > get a meaning out of it. The thought that clearly comes to mind is
> > "except.":
> >
> > And I tell you, whoever divorces his wife--not  for sexual
> > immorality--and marries another, commits adultery."
> >
> > "Not for sexual immorality" gives the one reason for divorce that would
> > not lead to Jesus' conclusion. So it is an exception.
> >
> > Yours,
> > Harold Holmyard
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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