From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 14 1999 - 11:47:15 EST
At 10:59 AM -0500 12/14/99, Bart Ehrman wrote:
> What do you make of the following: hETOIMOTERON GAR hEAUTON LEGEI hO
>KURIOS EIS TO DIDONAI TOU AITOUNTOS? Specifically, I'm wondering about
>the participle in the genitive at the end. "For the Lord says that he is
>more ready to give than..." what? Than to make a request?
>
> Or is it that he's more ready to give than the person who asks is ready
>to give?
>
> Or that he's more ready to give than the person who asks is ready to
>ask?
>
> The final option is how it is most commonly taken, but I'm not sure
>why.
You do put interesting questions! My first guess would, I think, be that
the way it's commonly taken is right, i.e., that EIS TO AITEIN is implicit
with TOU AITOUNTOS; certainly the articular participle in the genitive has
to be a genitive of comparison. And I think that EIS TO DIDONAI must be
essentially "epexegetic" with hETOIMOTERON, so that we couldn't very well
stick that EIS TO DIDONAI out in front and say: "when it comes to giving,
the Lord says that he is more forthcoming than is the one who requests."
So: yes, I think we must understand an ellipsis and that the sense pretty
much has to be: "For the Lord declares that is he quicker to give than is
the asker to ask."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
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