Re: Question in John 6:10

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Fri, 22 May 1998 19:54:58 -0400

At 6:29 PM -0400 5/22/98, tynell@pop.mindspring.com wrote:
>Friends:
>
>While reading John 6:10, I noticed an interesting construction that I
>wanted a second opinion on, so I wrote this list.
>
>My translation:
>"Jesus said, 'Make the men sit down!'; there was much grass in the place.
>Therefore, the number of men who sat down were 5,000."
>
>What I found odd was the consrtuction "anepesan hoi andres ton arithmon hos
>pentakisxiloi"
>
>I was expecting to find "ton arithmon" in the genitive, i.e., genitive of
>description(?), as " . . .hoi andres twn arithmon hos pentakisxiloi." How
>can "ton arithmon" be accusative and not genitive? Does anyone have any
>suggestions?

Hi, Tim; it's been a while since we heard from you. Literally, the verse is
"the men sat down (the Greek actually says 'reclined' or 'lay down' since
that's the conventional posture for eating in the Greco-Roman world), about
5,000 in number. The Greek for number is accusative, TON ARIQMON: this is
an adverbial accusative of specification explaining PENTAKISCILIOI.
ANEPESAN, by the way, is an aorist 3d plural, not an imperative 3d plural.

Regards,

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/