[B-Greek] PROS in Heb 1:7-8 ( was Semantic Range of Prepositions
Yancy Smith
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
Mon Mar 22 16:30:41 EDT 2010
Elizabeth EGRAYE:
Prepositions are ambiguous. Take a look at PROS in:
Heb. 1:7 καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀγγέλους λέγει· ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα, 8 πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν· ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς εὐθύτητος ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου.
Heb. 1:7 KAI PROS MEN TOUS AGGELOUS LEGEI· hO POIWN TOUS AGGELOUS AUTOU PNEUMATA KAI TOUS LEITOURGOUS AUTOU PUROS FLOGA, 8 PROS DE TON hUION· hO QRONOS SOU hO QEOS EIS TON AIWNA TOU AIWNOS, KAI hH hRABDOS THS EUQUTHTOS hRABDOS THS BASILEIAS SOU.
Does the first PROS mark the addressees of LEGEI "to" or the subjectmatter of LEGEI "concerning"?
[Yancy Smith]
A great example, and translations usually waffle from v. 7 to v. 8. The UBS Translator's Handbook on Hebrews says, "The word translated About [PROS] in verses 7 and 8 more commonly means “To.” About fits the context better in verse 7, where God is not speaking to the angels, but “To” is more suitable here in verse 8, because God is speaking to the Son."
But here, the ambiguity of the preposition arises from the semantics of the verb LEGEI, as Elizabeth suggests. The same verb is used (with the an ambiguous subject, God-Scripture, as the implied speaker? Or no direct "speaker" at all?) in v. 5, 6, 7, 13. LEGEI has a range of meanings that also set different conceptual or assumptive frames. For example, when LEGEI means "means" or LEGEI PROS means "refers to" (as it might here) the semantics of the verb would determine the frame, I suppose.
Yancy Smith
Yancy W. Smith, PhD
World Bible Translation Center
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