From: Mary L B Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 02 1998 - 12:53:15 EDT
At 11:25 AM 7/2/98 -0400, Paul F. Evans wrote:
>List,
Thanks for you help on the last effort at a verse from Hebrews. Here goes
another.
Heb. 11:6
CWRIS DE PISTEWS ADUNATON EUARESTHSAI PISTEUSAI GAR DEI TON PROSERCOMENON
TW QEW HOTI ESTIN KAI TOIS EKZHTOUSIN AUTON MISQAPODOTHS GINETAI
The elements of this sentence are swimming around in my head like goldfish
in bowl! I need help sorting it out. I knew I had neglected my Greek
skills lately but things are more rusty than I thought.
I guess it would be best to start with the verbs, ESTIN, DEI & GINETAI?
Probably not: If you start from the beginning and move forward, you'll see
that you have a whole clause with no expressed verb: The infinitive
EYARESTHSAI is the subject; ADUNATON is the predicative adjective, and the
verb "to be" is understood (what I call for my students the invisible form).
The next clause begins with PISTEUSAI; this infinitive has an accusative
subjective: TON PROSERXOMENON ("the one who is approaching God"), and the
construction depends on DEI. The OTI clauses are the objects of PISTEUSAI
and express two beliefs: that God exists (ESTIN--subject supplied from TW
QEW) and that he (again, God) is a giver of rewards
(MISQAPODOTHS--nominative of an agent noun, not a participle) to those who
seek him (this is a participle).
I assume that the subject of GINETAI is the substantive participle
MISQAPODOTHS. However, it is hard to make any sense of how this works
without reference to the earlier ESTIN, he is, in some way.
Yes, it is the subject, but it's a noun, as noted above. And it's in
parallel with ESTIN.
The first part of the sentence, CWRIS DE PISTEWS ADUNATON EUARESTHSAI,
seems abrupt and incomplete. It begin a thought which never really comes
to completion unless somehow the later dative TW QEW linked to the
infinitive somehow. Or is it more likely that God is implied by the
earlier reference to Enoch having pleased (same word) God?
Your second thought is right: quite often we have to supply words in
English from previous clauses or phrases.
Then there is what I assume is an impersonal verb DEI. Does this refer to
the person coming, as we would use the English "one who comes must..." or
does it mean something like "it is necessary for the one coming to God to
believe..."? I guess I am not sure how this impersonal idea works. I am
wondering if it is refers generically to the hypothetical seeker, or
whether it refers to the hypothetical condition of believing.
Either "it is necessary that one...." or "one must..." are fine
translations. Here it sounds like logical necessity: "Someone who is
approaching God must believe that he exists...."
The last part of the sentence that begins with HOTI then seems to go back
to PISTEUSAI, and somehow render the substance of what is believe. How
far out in left field am I? Please be gentle I am feeling quite fragile
today!
You're right on track.
Now the KAI is it "and" or "also"? Also makes more sense to me! but then
what do I know. But then I am still stuck with how KAI TOIS EKZHTOUSIN
AUTON MISQAPODOTHS GINETAI actually work.
As noted above, it's the correlating conjunction, linking the two
components of the OTI construction.
Just help!
Your main problem seems to be one that we teachers in our impatience
encourage: "Just look at the verb!" Obviously, it's crucially important
to determine how many clauses we're dealing with, and which are independent
clauses and which are subordinate. Your guesses were good guesses; you're
headed in the right direction!
Mary
Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem NC 27109-7343
336-758-5331 (NOTE: this is a new number) pender@wfu.edu
--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to unsubscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:39:51 EDT