[B-Greek] John 2:4 - TI EMOI KAI SOI

Jeff Smelser jeffsmelser at ntgreek.net
Thu Mar 19 23:37:03 EDT 2009


Now I remember why it's good to think before sending. I'm in VA now, had 
a few minutes to think about this, started thinking more certainly, "it 
/was/ in the LXX where I saw this," then thinking, "was it just a very 
literal LXX translation of a Hebrew expression?" Quick check, and I 
think that's what it is. See Jdgs 11:12, 3(1) Kings 17:18, 4(2) Kings 
3:13, 2 Chron. 35:21.

Jeff


Jeff Smelser wrote:
> I rarely post, in part because I generally feel the need to think things 
> through before posting, and by the time I get around to being ready to 
> say anything, it's already been covered and the conversation has moved 
> on. But I'm about to get on the road for a trip back down to your area, 
> George, so no time to think this through as much as perhaps I should, 
> and I'm just going to send it!
>
> Τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, TI EMOI KAI SOI "what to me is also to you," seems to 
> me to amount to "What is of common concern?"  We have  different 
> agendas; what concerns you doesn't concern me, or /vice versa/. I think 
> it  must be a similar idiom in Mt. 27:19 where Pilate's wife declares 
> affirmatively, Μηδὲν σοὶ καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ ἐκείνῳ (MHDEN SOI KAI TWi DIKAIWi 
> EKEINWi, Mt. 27:19), "nothing to you is also to that righteous man," in 
> other words, you don't need to be mixed up with him, don't get entangled 
> with him, his affair is not your affair.
>
> Such an expression could be intended to make a point with no disrespect 
> (e.g. Jn. 2:4), or it could be a plea to be left alone (Mk. 5:8, Lk. 
> 8:28).  (It seems to me that this expression occurs elsewhere also, 
> maybe in the LXX, but I don't have time to check.) Then there is Mt. 
> 27:4 (Τί πρὸς ἡμᾶς, TI PROS hHMAS, "What's that to us?") which seems 
> dismissive. Whether to regard TI PROS hHMAS as similar or dissimilar, I 
> don't know. (Obviously it's a one-sided formulation rather than a mutual 
> formulation.) If it ought to be reckoned in the same category as TI EMOI 
> KAI SOI, then only context would indicate whether the expression is 
> dismissive.
>
> Jeff Smelser
> www.ntgreek.net
>
>
>
>   
>



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