<< I am new to the list, and am rusty with my Greek, but
I am trying to translate some verses from I Peter 2
and would like your input on my translation:
verse 4
To whom is coming a living stone on the one hand rejected
by men, but on the other hand with God is a precious stone,
verse 5
and you yourselves as living stones are being built up into
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer an acceptable
spiritual sacrifice through the God of Jesus Christ.
As most of you can tell, I really had trouble with the beginning
of verse 4--couldn't seem to get a smooth translation of the
PROS ON PROSERCHOMENOI. I know the first two words is literally
"to whom," and that the third word is a participle of PROSERCHO
(I come to). But how can it all fit together?
I also translated the MEN. . .DE as "on the one hand. . . on the
other hand." Is this standard (this is how my Greek professor
taught me)?
Thanks for your input.
>>
Dear Jamen,
I'd like to make an attempt to fit this together, but there are a few strange
things here.
You're entering a "tough town" by working with I Peter if you are rusty with
your Greek! According to some scholars, it is one of the more difficult
books to translate in the New Testament (for instance, Wesley J.
Perschbacher listed it as #21 out of #27 in recommended reading order--but
that list is based on the frequency of vocabulary words).
Chapel Roe is right in his/her observations. PROSERCOMENOI in 2:4 is a
present, middle (that would be, hmmm, "deponent" if I didn't know better),
participle, nominative, masculine, plural. The nominative plural is the clue
that the particple can't have LIQON ZWNTA as its subject.
The object of the preposition is PROS hON . . . LIQON ZWNTA: "To him (the/a)
living stone". This is a "multiple" accusative object of the
preposition-complement-complement-complement-complement, where LIQON ZWNTA,
...APODEDOKIMASMENON, ...ELKLEKTON, and ENTIMON predicates something about
hON: "To him a living stone, . . .rejected, . . .elect, . . . precious
PROSERCOMENOI is an adverbial modifier of OIKODOMEISQE (present passive
indicative [or perhaps imp.], 2nd person plural, and is complemented by AUTOI
hWS LIQOI ZWNTES: "Coming...you yourselves as living stones are being built
up."
Your rendering of MEN...DE... is fine.