Re: 1 Corinthians 10: 20
Carlton Winbery (winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net)
Sun, 27 Jul 1997 17:51:29 +0400
Joseph Garnier wrote;
>This may be elementary for some, but I am having a problem with this verse,
>which is, according to Scrivner: all oti a thuei ta ethne daimonioij thuei
>kai ou thew ou thelo de umaj koinonouj ton daimonion ginesthai. My
>difficulty is with the plural ta ethne, "the nation", and its attachment to
>thue, "it sacrifices", which is 3rd person singular. Does this mean that the
>Gentile nations are to understood as a single entity? This would seem to
>correspond with the fact that nearly all the Mediterranean world, though
>composed of many ethnic groups, was controlled by Rome. Any illumination
>would be greatly appreciated.
The reading you cite from Schrivner is the reading of the majority of the
Byzantine witnesses. The clearly Alexandrine reading omits TA EQNH and
uses the plural form of the verb.
The Byz version would be translated, "but because that which the nations
sacrifice to demons they do not sacrifice to God . . ." Many times in
Hellenistic Greek the plural neuter subject takes a singular verb, but the
verb must be translated into English as plural. Most grammars will deal
with this at some point.
Carlton L. Winbery
Fogleman Professor of Religion
Chair, Division of Religious Studies
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
winbery@andria.lacollege.edu
voice 318 487-7241
fax 318 442-4996