[b-greek] Re: Matthew 15:24

From: Steven Lo Vullo (doulos@merr.com)
Date: Mon Dec 17 2001 - 21:22:23 EST


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On Monday, December 17, 2001, at 02:17 PM, L. J. Swain wrote:

> In Matthew's episode of the Syro-Phoenician woman, Jesus says:
>
> "OUK APESTALHN EI MH EIS TA PROBATA TA APOLWLOTA OIKOU ISRAHL"
>
> My question is the "EI MH", I've looked in several grammars to confirm
> my understanding that EI MH is best translated as "except" or "if not",
> thus the above statement is "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of
> the house of Israel." But I've noted that the NASB, NIV, and RSV all
> translate "I was sent ONLY to the....." and it is the use of that "only"
> which is my sticking point. Unless I've missed something about the
> nature of "EI MH" and its nuance, "only" seems to me to be making Jesus
> say something stronger than what Matthew has him say. I note that the
> Vulgate also has good ol' "nisi" for "EI MH", which for me confirms the
> issue.

I guess I'm not sure about the fundamental difference you perceive
between "except" and "only" as they appear in the English translations.
I assume the ETs you mention translated as they did because of the
awkward English represented by "I was not sent except to." When making
the transfer from the negative in Greek to the corresponding and more
natural positive in English, "except" must be changed to "only." It
seems to me this is good idiomatic English, whereas a strict
word-to-word translation is not. But I fail to see the substantive
difference between saying "I was not sent EXCEPT to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel," and "I was sent ONLY to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel," since both statements clearly exclude all but the
"lost sheep of the house of Israel."
=============

Steven Lo Vullo
Madison, WI


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