[B-Greek] ASQENESTERWi SKEUEI in 1 Peter 3:7

Oun Kwon kwonbbl at gmail.com
Fri Jul 24 22:09:10 EDT 2009


On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 6:07 AM, Carl Conrad<cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:
>
<clipped>

> Evidently this notion of the adjective ASQENHS having the sense of
> "vulnerable" and having a "positive" connotation. I'm rather dubious
> about this notion myself. On the one hand, I would agree that
> "vulnerable" is one common idea associated with the adjective, but I
> question that vulnerability is ever really conceived as something good
> in the ancient view. In particular, it seems to me that the notion of
> "fragile, delicate femininity" is closer to modern romantic, even
> Victorian conceptions of womanhood than to ordinary ancient
> sensibilities.
>

<clipped>

'vulnerable' is a marvelous choice; better than 'fragile'. 'Weaker' is
not enough, easily misunderstood as simple 'physically weaker' (though
many are). Their socio-economic weakness is a norm in the past, but it
is not in the context here.

As I listened to these interesting discussions, such understanding of
the text seems to come from seeing it as the punctuation given as:

1Pe 3:7	
Οἱ ἄνδρες ὁμοίως συνοικοῦντες κατὰ γνῶσιν,
ὡς ἀσθενεστέρῳ σκεύει τῷ γυναικείῳ ἀπονέμοντες τιμήν,
ὡς καὶ συγκληρονόμοις χάριτος ζωῆς,
εἰς τὸ μὴ ἐγκόπτεσθαι τὰς προσευχὰς ὑμῶν.

hOI ANDRES hOMOIWS SUNOIKOUNTES KATA GNWSIN,
hWS ASQENESTERW SKEUEI TW GUNAIKEIW APONEMONTES TIMHN,
hWS KAI SUGKLHRONOMOIS CARITOS ZWHS,
EIS TO MH EGKOPTESQAI TAS PROSEUCAS hUMWN.

With such line breaks, hOS ASQENESTERW is (strangely to me) connected
to APONEMONTES TIMHN.

The way I have understood this verse is as with the following
punctuations (as well as line breaks - a poor man's diagramming).

Οἱ ἄνδρες ὁμοίως συνοικοῦντες,
		κατὰ γνῶσιν ὡς ἀσθενεστέρῳ σκεύει·
	τῷ γυναικείῳ ἀπονέμοντες τιμήν
		ὡς καὶ συγκληρονόμοις χάριτος ζωῆς·
εἰς τὸ μὴ ἐγκόπτεσθαι τὰς προσευχὰς ὑμῶν.

hOI ANDRES hOMOIWS SUNOIKOUNTES,
               KATA GNWSIN hWS ASQENESTERW SKEUEI·
       TW GUNAIKEIW APONEMONTES TIMHN
              hWS KAI SUGKLHRONOMOIS CARITOS ZWHS·
EIS TO MH EGKOPTESQAI TAS PROSEUCAS hUMWN.

Here, 'woman being a vulnerable vessel' is not connected at all to
'giving honor' ('showing respect').  The text simply says, 'Give honor
as befitting to a woman.'

This verse is really a beautiful statement by Peter's pen, showing his
sensitivity and concern about how women feel. [It is in which I fail
miserably.]

Please kindly give me any correction on my understanding of the syntax.

Oun Kwon.


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