[B-Greek] Diagramming Mt 4:24 Mt
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Sep 5 01:17:08 EDT 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 5. september 2008 02:19
Subject: [B-Greek] Diagramming Mt 4:24 Mt
>I am looking at Mt 4:24. The following is the way I see in a poor man's
> diagramming.
>
> Mt 4:24
> (A) KAI *APHLQEN *H AKOH AUTOU EIS OLHN THN SURIAN
> (B) KAI *PROSHNEGKAN *AUTW PANTAS TOUS KAKWS ECONTAS
> (B1) POIKILAIS NOSOIS KAI BASANOIS SUNECOMENOUS
> (B2) [KAI] DAIMONIZOMENOUS
> (B3) KAI SELHNIAZOMENOUS
> (B4) KAI PARALUTIKOUS
> (C) KAI *EQERAPEUSEN *AUTOUS.
>
> The verse consists of three clauses (A) (B) and (C) with verbs APHLQEN,
> PROSHNEGKAN, EQERAPEUSEN.
>
> The problem I had is with (B). I like to take B1, B2, B3 and B4 with
> accusative participles SUNECOMENOUS, DAIMONIZOMENOUS, SELHNIAZOMENOU, and
> accusative adjective PARALUTIKOUS as 'objects' of the verb ECW (> ECONTAS).
>
> I wish B4 had a participle, but I can take as in a sense of participle in
> English ('being paralytic).
>
> Then, KAKWS ECW takes all the forms of people's trouble to be brought to
> Him. From reading English translations, it is not clear and precise. They
> seem to give me a picture of their taking B2-B4 as the objects of verb B
> PROSHNEGKAN.
>
> I would appreciate your comments so that I make sure I am on the right
> track.
>
> Oun Kwon.
I would say that you are on the right track, except to take the participles as "objects" of ECW. The
passage has three coordinated main clauses and 5 subordinated clauses.
As Carl has mentioned ECEIN KAKWS is a Greek idiom "to have it in a bad way" for being ill or having
troubles. Other related languages may have a similar idiom. When people in English say "How are
you?" we say in Danish "How do you have it?" Others may say "How do you feel?"
I would therefore consider PANTAS TOUS KAKWS ECONTAS as a complete noun phrase with an embedded
clause.
A participial "phrase" in Greek is often nowadays called a participial clause by linguists because
it contains a verb and it often corresponds to a rank-shifted relative clause in English. They
brought to him "all". How are these "all" further described? First by "who had it in a bad way" (or
"those having it in a bad way", if you want to use a participle in English.)
I agree that this a general statement which is further clarified and described by the following 4
subordinated clauses. This is typical of the Hebrew thought pattern behind the Greek text of Matthew
. A general statement comes first, followed by clarifying details.
Your B1 is a participial clause which modifies and further describes PANTAS (TOUS KAKWS ECONTAS) and
is therefore in the accusative. The SUN prefix is the reason why the "objects" (POIKILAIS NOSOIS KAI
BASANOIS) of the participial verb are in the dative.
B2, B3 and B4 are three more participial clauses parallel to B1. For B4 we need to supply the
participle ONTAS, but it is common in Greek to have an underlying form of EIMI not expressed in the
surface structure.
Iver Larsen
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