From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sat Nov 28 1998 - 14:17:53 EST
Paul Zellmer wrote:
>
> James 1:13 says: (3:13, csb)
>
> TI/S SOFOS KAI EPISTHMWN EN hUMIN; DEICATW EK THS KALHS ANASTROFHS
> TA ERGA AUTOU EN PRAUTHTI SOFIAS.
>
> . . . asking about the EK phrase.
>
> An initial impression is that this phrase is describing the source
> of the demonstation that is commanded. If this were the case, I
> would probably handle the thought like does the NIV, supplying "it"
> after the imperative. Yet I have a bit of a problem handling the TA
> ERGA. *It* appears to be the object of the verb, i.e., *what* is
> shown. If this is the case, the EK phrase seems to be the source of
> the works. But the order of the parts of this sentence seem to go
> against this, at least in my way of thinking. I would expect to see
> the EK phrase come after ERGA AUTOU, perhaps even after SOFIAS.
>
Paul,
Another word order question? Word order questions are really slippery. I
decided to look at the Vulgate and Old Latin to see how they translated this,
I quote from J.B. Mayor's commentary on James:
*********
DEICATW EK THS KALHS ANASTROFHS
TA ERGA AUTOU EN PRAUTHTI SOFIAS.
Is rendered in the Old Latin, Corby MS:
DEMONSTRAT DE BONA CONUERSATIONE OPERA SUA IN SAPIENTIAE CLEMENTIA
in the Vulgate:
OSTENDAT EX BONA CONUERSATIONE OPERATIONEM SUAM IN MANSUETUDINEM SAPIENTIAE.
*******
>From these two renderings I would conclude that EK THS KALHS ANASTROFHS is
indeed what the traditional grammarians call an ablative construction.
To solve the larger problem, I consulted John Huther (Meyer's Handbook) and I
will now take a stab at a conclusion of my own (risky?). In the following:
DEICATW EK THS KALHS ANASTROFHS
TA ERGA AUTOU EN PRAUTHTI SOFIAS.
The object of the verb is TA ERGA. The constituent EN PRAUTHTI SOFIAS is
adverbially related to DEICATW. The constituent EK THS KALHS ANASTROFHS is
either adverbial limiting DEICATW or perhaps adjectival limiting TA ERGA. I
lean toward the former but would not be dogmatic about it.
This will NOT solve all of your problems with this passage, I am sure.
-- Clayton Stirling Bartholomew Three Tree Point P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062--- 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 leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
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