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John 5:4 ἐγίνετο
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 5:27 am
by David Lim
[John 5:4 Byz] αγγελος γαρ κατα καιρον κατεβαινεν εν τη κολυμβηθρα και εταρασσεν το υδωρ ο ουν πρωτος εμβας μετα την ταραχην του υδατος υγιης εγινετο ω δηποτε κατειχετο νοσηματι
What exactly does the imperfect tense of "εγινετο" here mean?
Re: John 5:4
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 5:36 am
by Stephen Carlson
It is general / habitual: would become, suggesting that this single act is part of a larger pattern of similar acts.
Re: John 5:4
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 6:31 am
by David Lim
Stephen Carlson wrote:It is general / habitual: would become, suggesting that this single act is part of a larger pattern of similar acts.
So the imperfect is used simply because of the repetition of this disturbance of the pool's water according to the season and the resulting repetition of someone getting well?
Re: John 5:4
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 6:42 am
by Stephen Carlson
David Lim wrote:Stephen Carlson wrote:It is general / habitual: would become, suggesting that this single act is part of a larger pattern of similar acts.
So the imperfect is used simply because of the repetition of this disturbance of the pool's water according to the season and the resulting repetition of someone getting well?
I don't know what work the word "simply" is doing, but, yeah, that's basically how I understand the semantics. Pragmatically, the imperfect is great for backgrounding, which is also going on (cf. the γάρ).
Re: John 5:4
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 8:42 am
by David Lim
Stephen Carlson wrote:David Lim wrote:Stephen Carlson wrote:It is general / habitual: would become, suggesting that this single act is part of a larger pattern of similar acts.
So the imperfect is used simply because of the repetition of this disturbance of the pool's water according to the season and the resulting repetition of someone getting well?
I don't know what work the word "simply" is doing, but, yeah, that's basically how I understand the semantics. Pragmatically, the imperfect is great for backgrounding, which is also going on (cf. the γάρ).
Oh I asked because I wanted to confirm that the imperfect tense here has no connotation of the event of "becoming well" being ongoing at that point.
Re: John 5:4
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 9:27 am
by cwconrad
I think this is equivalent to a past general condition, setting forth what ordinarily happened when such and such a condition was met; in earlier Greek the protasis would have been formulated in the optative mood, the apodosis in the imperfect indicative.
Re: John 5:4
Posted: June 25th, 2014, 10:03 am
by David Lim
cwconrad wrote:I think this is equivalent to a past general condition, setting forth what ordinarily happened when such and such a condition was met; in earlier Greek the protasis would have been formulated in the optative mood, the apodosis in the imperfect indicative.
I see. Thanks for both your answers!