[B-Greek] Luke 1:4 PERI hWN KATHCHQHS LOGWN THN ASFALEIAN

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Fri Mar 9 10:45:56 EST 2007


Hi Jonathan,
> I'm almost convinced that I've conquered this sentence:
>
> 01 EPEIDHPER POLLOI EPECEIRHSAN ANATAXASQAI DIHGHSIN PERI TWN 
> PEPLHROFORHMENWN EN hHMIN PRAGMATWN, 02 KAQWS PAREDOSAN hHMIN hOI AP 
> ARCHS AUTOPTAI KAI hUPHRETAI GENOMENOI TOU LOGOU, 03 EDOXE KAMOI 
> PARHKOLOUQHKOTI ANWQEN PASIN AKRIBWS KAQEXHS SOI GRAYAI, KRATISTE 
> QEOFILE, 04 hINA EPIGNWiS PERI hWN KATHCHQHS LOGWN THN ASFALEIAN.
>
> Except for the last phrase:  PERI hWN KATHCHQHS LOGWN THN ASFALEIAN. 
> Does THN ASFALEAN modify LOGWN, as I had assumed? Most translations 
> don't seem to think so - they say something like "so that you can know 
> with certainty", and I assume the certainty comes from ASFALEAN. But how 
> can ASFALEAN modify EPIGNWiS?
>   

HH: The word ASFALEIAN is in the accusative object of the verb EPIGNWiS 
and does not modify LOGWN, which is in the genitive. The prepositional 
phrase "concerning which things you have been taught" seems to modify 
"certainty." A literal translation of verse 4 would be: "so that you may 
know concerning which things you have been taught the certainty." This 
would be odd English, so translations handle it in different ways:

1) so that you may know with certainty the things you have been taught

2) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

HH: Perhaps it would be good to rearrange the literal translation above: 
"so that you may know the certainty concerning which things you have 
been taught." You could restate this as: "so that you may know the 
certainty (attached to/that pertains to) the things you have been taught."

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
>
>   



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