[b-greek] Re: Luke 5:7

From: Stephen C. Carlson (scarlson@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Jun 19 2001 - 00:06:04 EDT

At 09:10 PM 6/17/01 -0700, Kenneth Litwak wrote:
> I have some questions on the first half of Luke
>1. When is it legitimate to take the definite article
>as a possessive? The first TOIS construciton is
>clealry missing AUTWN or the like, and I'm wondering
>if the article alone is considered to do that job?

In this case, the use of the possessive as in the
NRSV's "So they signaled their partners" is governed
by English's idiomatic considerations, not Greek's.
For exmaple, the AV puts the "their" in italics,
signaling that it was added to complete the sense of
the Greek but not literally present.

>2. TOU plus an infinitive is common, but what about
>the aorist participle between the two? I know the
>parti8ciple can be used as an imperative, but as part
>of a compound infinitive? Is it "to, afterhaving
>come, help" or "to come and help"?

It is a circumstantial participle, and its precise
nuance has to be gleaned from the context. As a
translation, "come and help" is nice and idiomatic.

>3. Why is this followed by a dative, not an

When SULLAMBANW means "to help out, aid," the
person being helped takes the dative and the
activity in which the help is given, if expressed,
takes the accusative. In Luke 5:7, the activity
is implied.

Stephen Carlson
Stephen C. Carlson mailto:scarlson@mindspring.com

