...hO KRINWN TOUS TA TOIAUTA PRASSONTAS KAI POIWN AUTA...
The KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, NEB, TEV, Phillips, JB, etc.
translate AUTA as "the same (things)." (RSV, NRSB =
"...them yourselves.") Now if it were just the NIV or
ONE of the other less "literal" translations, I'd
conclude that they were just trying to make it clear;
but they are all doing it, as well as the NASB.
That would necessitate AUTA being an Adjective (called
Adj of Identity by RobtGr., p. 685ff., BDF #288), and
not a Pronoun (ie., Personal, 3rd Pl Neut Acc). The
problem is that, as far as I can tell, there is NO
evidence for AUTOS in any gender, case, or number
functioning as an Adjective, UNLESS its either in the
Attributive position (hO AUTOS KURIOS - 1Cor 12:5; hO
AUTOS - Heb 1:12) or associated with an Anarthrous
Noun (Luke 23:12 [?]; Smyth #1211, L&S I.11. [all the
examples have it associated with a noun; I take it
that EP' AUTAS BAQMIDOS in Pindar, Nemean Odes, 5.1.
actually has AUTAS in concord with the noun.]) or
in conjunction with TOUTO (Rom 9:17). No such
anarthrous and/or non-associated meaning is listed
by Smyth, BDF, RobtGr, Zerwick, Moule, L&S, BAGD,
M&M (I stopped after that).
Has anyone ever seen such an animal ?? Or is the
RSV/NRSV paying closer attention to the Greek
grammar when they translated it "them" (though
making the active ptc POIWN middle was an interesting
tranlation device) ? And if so, is this a usage of
AUTOS in which it basically represents hOUTOS/EKEINOS
(in this specific case TAUTA; ie., the classical
anaphoric usage)?
Or did I just overlook something really obvious ???
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Dale M. Wheeler, Th.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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