Re: Luke 2:14: en uyistois qew, en anqrwpois eudokias

Edgar M. Krentz (emkrentz@mcs.com)
Wed, 20 Nov 1996 16:30:51 -0500

>OK, I thought I could parse this, and then someone pointed out that UYISTOIS
>is plural. Why plural?
>
>Luke 2:14 (GNT) doxa en uyistois qew kai epi ghs eirhnh en anqrwpois
>eudokias.
>
>Nothing seems to agree with it. DOXA is singular. QEW is singular. GHS is
>singular. ANQRWPOIS is plural, but masculine. And this is Luke, who is
>supposed to write good Greek.
>
>Any hints?

I suspect because the word for heaven (OURANOS) often (but not always)
occurs in the plural, possibly reflecting the Hebrew HASHAMAIM. Years ago
Adolf Schlatter argued that in Josephus heaven in the plural was used for
the heavens as the place where God is (i.e. the antonym to the earth),
while in the singular it is the counterpart of earth, the two making up the
totality of creation. Note the variation in number in the address to God
and the third petition in the Lord's Prayer in Matt 6.

Edgar Krentz, New Testament
emkrentz@mcs.com OR ***** ekrentz@lstc.edu
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
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