I agree with Clayton here, and I'd add that English translations may more
often be a hindrance than a help in understanding a Greek construction
(isn't that what Edward would want me to say here?!).
Moreover, isn't it really true, if you think about it, that the imperative,
whether it be present, aorist, or perfect, has aspect but not tense--and
that it is ALWAYS directed to the future? And as for the imperative here in
question, it occurs to me that my wife has been told by her doctor on more
than one occasion (when he doubted that she would take his advice and use a
pain-killer): "Go forth and be healthy!" And isn't that exactly what Jesus
is saying to the woman in Mk 5:34?
You might even compare a parallel healing narrative, the paralytic, to whom
Jesus says in Mk 2:5, TEKNON, AFIENTAI SOU hAI hAMARTIAI, explaining this
statement in 2:9ff.: TI ESTIN EUKOPWTERON, EIPEIN TWi PARALUTIKWi,
'AFIENTAI SOU hAI hAMARTIAI' H EIPEIN, 'EGEIRE KAI ARON TON KRABATON SOU
KAI PERIPATEI'--and concluding with the command to the paralytic in 2:11
SOI DE LEGW, EGEIRE ARON TON KRABATTON SOU KAI hUPAGE EIS TON OIKON SOU.'
AFIENTAI,in fact, strikes me as parallel to the hIATAI of Mk 5:29: AFIENTAI
is present passive, and I still really wonder whether hIATAI isn't also
present passive. I'll probably get burned on this one!
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/