RE: OUK ESTIN SOU ANHR

Clayton Bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 02 Jul 1997 11:15:18 +0000

John wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
In the discussion with the woman of Sycar at John 4:18 Jesus says OUK
ESTIN SOU ANHR. Englsh translations usualy render this "is not your
husband." My question is would OUK ESTIN SOU ANHR imply that she was
living with a man to whom she was not married? (as this English
rendering would imply?) Or would it be understood to mean she was living
with someone elses man? (which would require emphasis on the "your" in
English).

Could this be rendered something like "You have had five husbands
and
the one you have now is not yours?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Leon Morris suggests another option, that the woman was married to her
present man but that she had exceeded the legally accepted number of
divorces, therefor he was not her husband.

The phrase ESTIN SOU ANHR does not seem to put heavy emphasis the
aspect of ownership, which might have been done with the adjective of
ownership IDIOS. So I would read it blandly as *she was living to a man who
was not her husband*. I do not think the syntax gives us grounds to be
more specific than this. Answers to this question are more likely to be
found in the culture than in the syntax.

Clay Bartholomew
Three Tree Point

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