Am I right in assuming that the nuance intended by the choice of the word μαραίνεσθαι is "you don't need to do anything about it"?James 1:11 wrote:οὕτως καὶ ὁ πλούσιος ἐν ταῖς πορείαις αὐτοῦ μαρανθήσεται.
Reason being that the mediopasive μαραίνεσθαι "go out of its own accord" as opposed to the active μαραίνειν "quench".
Why would James have chosen the synonym μαραίνεσθαι over σβέννυσθαι here?
My first thoughts are that μαραίνεσθαι is more readily used for abstract things such as fame and fortune, or that it more easily evokes a "you don't need to do anything about it" reaction, or that μαραίνεσθαι is a generally positive thing while σβέννυσθαι could be either negative or positive. Is anything in that provable? How?
[FWIW if the image of μαραίνεσθαι was recognisably rooted in fire imagery, we could mention that "set fire to" ἅπτεσθαι, and "set ablaze" could be καίειν.]