Matt 18:3 (GNT) kai eipen: amhn legw umin, ean mh strafhte kai genhsqe ws ta
paidia, ou mh eiselqhte eis thn basileian twn ouranwn.
Matt 18:3 (NASU) and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and
become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
NASU seeems to give it passive force, others give it middle force, e.g. NIV
"unless you change and become like little children". I did a quick search
for other uses of passive STREFW, and the ones I looked at did not seem to
be passive in force. My favorite example was the first I saw:
Matt 7:6 (GNT) Mh dwte to agion tois kusin mhde balhte tous margaritas umwn
emprosqen twn coirwn, mhpote katapathsousin autous en tois posin autwn kai
strafentes rhxwsin umas.
Matt 7:6 (NASU) "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your
pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn
and tear you to pieces.
Passive force doesn't make sense here. Just try to picture those pigs
trampling the pearls, then waiting passively for someone or something to
turn them so that they can tear you to pieces!
Jonathan
***************************************************************************
Jonathan Robie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703
Ph: 919.598.5728 Fax: 919.598.6728
email: jwrobie@mindspring.com, jonathan@poet.com
http://www.poet.com <--- shockwave enabled!
***************************************************************************