[B-Greek] John 19:11b

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Tue Mar 9 11:31:52 EST 2004


> In John 19 we read hO PARADOUS ME SOI. We are looking for a
> person who gave
> Jesus to Pilate. Judas did not. God can not be meant (cfr. ANWQEN), for He
> can not have hAMARTIAN.
> So we have to choose between Annas and Caiphas. Then we have to
> look to John
> 18: 24. Annas sent Jesus to Caiphas, presumably because the was the high
> priest then (John 18: 13). Caiphas should take the decision. In my opinion
> it was Caiphas who was hO PARADOUS Jesus to Pilate although between 18: 24
> and 18: 28 nothing is told about the decision of Caiphas. In Mat 26: 65
> however Caiphas takes a decision but he asks the opinion of the
> others (the
> ARXIEREIS and the PRESBUTEROI TOU LAOU). I think Jesus could give him the
> responsability.
>
> Arie

Whereas I basically agree with Arie, I thought I would add a couple of
comments.

It seems to me that when PARADIDWMI is used as a divalent verb with an agent
and a patient, it corresponds pretty much to "betray" in English. Whenever
we hear of Judas betraying Jesus, the construction has a subject and an
object, but no indirect object. Judas betrayed Jesus. We find hO PARADIDOUS
AUTON  in John 18:2,5 and similar forms other places.

When it is used as a trivalent verb with an agent, patient and recipient, it
corresponds to "hand someone over to someone else". This construction is
never used about Judas, but is used several other places in John, e.g.:

18:35 TO EQNOS TO SON KAI hOI ARCIEREIS PAREDWKAN SE MOI (your people and
the high priests handed you over to me)
18:36 hINA MH PARADOQW TOIS IOUDAIOS (that I should not be handed over to
the Jewish leaders)
19:11 hO PARADOUS ME SOI (the one handing me over to you)

Both constructions occur close to one another in Mat 27:2-3.

So, I would say that grammatically the singular in 19:11 probably refers to
Caiaphas. However, the official high priest represented the Sanhedrin as
chairman and in general the Jewish leaders who were opposed to Jesus (hOI
IOUDAIOI). Although the High Priest would have to carry the main
responsibility, the other leaders are not absolved from blame.

If I were to make an idiomatic translation for a target audience who think
in individualistic terms, I would translate the singular with a plural. But
that is a matter of communication, pragmatics, intended audience and
translation style, rather than Greek exegesis.

Iver Larsen




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