Re: John 16:15: EMA ESTIN -- why accusative?
Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
21 Aug 96 09:48:47 EDT
At 8:48 AM -0500 8/21/96, Jonathan Robie wrote:
> This may be a very basic question, but why is the accusative used
> in the phrase "EMA ESTIN" to say "is mine" in the phrase "all that
> the father has is mine"? The complete verse is:
>
> PANTA hOSA EXEI hO PATHR EMA ESTIN; DIA TOUTO EIPON hOTI EK TOU EMOU LAMBANEI
> KAI ANAGGELEI hUMIN.
>
> I don't think of the accusative as indicating possession, I thought
> that's what we pay the genitive to do.
It's NOT accusative, but nom. pl.;PANTA is the subject, EMA is the predicate adjective; what's accusative is hOSA in the subordinate clause hOSA EXEI hO PATHR. It's important to remember that the nominative and accusative of neuters are identical in the singular and again in the plural, and also, of course, that neuter plural subjects generally (although not altogether consistently in the NT) take a singular verb.