From: Moon-Ryul Jung (moon@sogang.ac.kr)
Date: Sat Mar 02 2002 - 17:50:20 EST
Dear bgreekers,
I am reading Mark. I am quite puzzled at the sentences I found in Mark 4.
(1) 4.4: EGENETO EN TWi SPEIREIN hO MEN ESPESEN PARA THN hODON
The best translation of it would be:It came to pass, as he sowed, one
[seed] fell by the way side. But can the relative pronoun hO be used as an
indeterminate pronoun meaning "one"?
(2) 4:15-20: hOUTOI, hOUTOI, hOUTOI, and EKEINOI: These, these, these, and
those.
hOUTOI/EKEINOI is a demonstrative pronoun, which is used to refer to the
things that are already established in the previous discourse or the
current situation. But in this context, they mean "Some, some, some, the
others". Can these demonstrative pronouns used in that way?
(3) The dangling sentence in 4:19?
In 4.18b, we have hOUTOI EISIN hOI TON LOGON AKOUSANTES, and expect
a relative clause which further defines hOI TON LOGON AKOUSANTES,
as in other cases.
But instead we have an independent sentence in 4:19 followed by KAI.
Becaue hOI TON LOGON AKOUSANTES is incomplete as a reference to an
entity, 4.18b cannot be a meaningful sentence in itelf. If we can
interpret KAI introducing 4:19 as SUCH THAT or WHERE, then
we can solve the problem. I sort of remember that the Hebrew
WAW consecutive has such a function. Do we here have KAI used in the
same way as the WAW consecutive?
(4) 4:26: hOUTOS ESTIN hH BASILEIA TOU QEOU hWS AQRWPOS BALHi TON
SPORON EPI THS GHS.
The typical translation is: So is the kingdom of God, as if a man put
a seed in the earth.
But this English sentence is difficult to make sense grammatically.
The relationship between "So is the kingdom of God" and "as if
a man put a seed on the earth" cannot be explained in terms of
the concepts known to us. One solution to this problem is to consider
that we have two sentences rather than one complex one, as follows:
hOUTOS ESTIN hH BASILEIA TOU QEOU.
Such is the kingdom of God.
hWS AQRWPOS BALHi TON SPORON EPI THS GHS.
It is like a man put a seed on the earth.
Another solution is to take it as follows:
Such is the kingdom of God that a man put a seed on the earth.
Here hWS is translated into THAT.
Does it make sense?
Moon
Moon R. Jung
Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea
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