RE: Beginner question

From: Rolf Furuli (furuli@online.no)
Date: Mon Dec 08 1997 - 16:14:31 EST


Steve L. Durfee wrote:

<While reading Mark the other night, I was brought up short at Mark 8:12.

<AMHN LEGW, EI DOQHSETAI THI GENEA TAUTHI SHMEION.

<This is Jesus' much-discussed statement that no (great) sign of power will
be <shown to this generation. Every translation I have says the same thing.

<Can someone tell me what information is contained in this verse that
convinces <translators unanimously that it is negative (that is, there is
no OU or MH as <in the parallel passages)? It must be something I haven't
learned (a Hebraism <perhaps?). Sure wish I had the UBS handbook for Mark.

Dear Steve,

Your guess turned out to be true; the idiom is Hebrew. The Hebrew word ĢIM
means "if" and LO means "not" or "no". Contrary to what we would expect,
is `IM LO ("if not") used in positive swear-clauses and ĢIM in negative
ones. Such clauses contain an ellipsis, and the meaning is probably like
this: "If (ĢIM) this or that happens, THEN..." - So you must definitely not
do that!" "If (ĢIM) this or that does not (LO) happen, THEN...- So you must
definitely do that!" Mark translates the Hebrew words literally in 8:12,
and we get a Greek conditional clause with the conclusion unexpressed.
Another similar example, which is a quotation from the LXX, is Heb 4:3. The
UBS handbook for Mark refers to Moule`s "An Idiom Book.." p 179 and to
Burton "Moods and Tenses" ¤ 272.

Regards
Rolf

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo
furuli@online.no



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