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Croy Index: Vocabulary - Prosody - Verbs - Nouns - Adjectives - Nominals - Other Topics - Syntax List


4.26 Septuagint and New Testament Verses

Although you are not required to work through the Septuagint and New Testament verses in Croy, you will find it to be very valuable practice! Below you will find some commentary on those sentences.

If you want to work on the sentences and take a quiz about the sentences for extra credit, you will find the quiz at Desire2Learn. It consists of multiple choice questions, and you can earn up to 2 points of extra credit.

Septuagint

1. ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐ φέρουσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν δόξαν

The Greek verb meaning "can" is used much less often than we use the English word "can" so, as a general rule, you can often add the word "can" when you are translating a Greek verb into English. So οὐ φέρουσιν here could be translated as "do not sustain" OR "cannot sustain". The genitive αὐτοῦ is being used for possession ("of him" = "his").

2. καὶ εἶπεν Εὐλογητὸς κύριος ὁ θεὸς τοῦ κυρίου μου Αβρααμ . . . ἐμὲ εὐόδωκεν κύριος εἰς οἶκον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ κυρίου μου

Although there are not quotation marks, the capitalized Εὐλογητὸς indicates the beginning of quoted speech. The genitive μου is being used for possession ("of me" = "my"). The Hebrew name Αβρααμ does not decline; here it is in the genitive, agreeing with κυρίου. Notice that the object ἐμὲ precedes the verb εὐόδωκεν while the subject κύριος comes after the verb. The root of the verb εὐόδωκεν is ὁδος , meaning road or way, so you may choose to aspirate the omicron inside the verb, as if it were εὐ ὅδωκεν.

3. καὶ εἶπας Θεός εἰμι . . . σὺ δὲ εἶ ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐ θεὸς

Although there are not quotation marks, the capitalized Θεός indicates the beginning of quoted speech. The use of the pronoun σὺ is emphatic, since the verb itself already tells us that the subject is second person singular (and the placement of the postpositive δὲ throws even more emphasis on the pronoun σὺ).

4. δοῦλος κυρίου . . . εἰμι καὶ τὸν κύριον θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ . . . σέβομαι

Notice that the object κύριον precedes the verb σέβομαι.

5. σὺ εἶ κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ισραηλ κἀγὼ δοῦλός σου καὶ διὰ σὲ πεποίηκα τὰ ἔργα ταῦτα

The Hebrew name Ισραηλ does not decline; here it is in the genitive. The word κἀγὼ is very unusual because it has a breathing mark inside the word. This is because it is a contraction of καί and ἐγώ. The genitive σου is being used here for possession ("of you" = "your"). The neuter plural ἔργα is either nominative or accusative (remember: the nominative and accusative forms of the neuter are always the same). It is from context here you can tell it must be accusative, the object of πεποίηκα.

6. Τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὸν θάνατον δέδωκα πρὸ προσώπου ὑμῶν, . . . ἔκλεξαι τὴν ζωήν

The objects ζωὴν and θάνατον precede the verb δέδωκα. The genitive ὑμῶν is being used for possession ("of you" = "your"). The infinitive ἔκλεξαι expresses purpose, much as the infinitive is used in English ("I need money to buy groceries.")

7. Μωυσῆς . . . ἐλάλησεν πάντας τοὺς λόγους τοῦ νόμου τούτου εἰς τὰ ὦτα τοῦ λαοῦ

Unlike most other Hebrew names, the name Μωυσῆς does decline, taking different endings to indicate case. Here it is in the nominative case, the subject of ἐλάλησεν.

8. καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Τέκνον λαβὲ τοὺς υἱούς σου

The genitives αὐτοῦ and σου are both being used here for possession ("of him" = "his" and "of you" = "your"). Although there are not quotation marks, the capitalized Τέκνον indicates the beginning of quoted speech, and the use of the vocative form (Τέκνον is in the vocative) also signals quoted speech.

New Testament

1. Οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέγων μοι, Κύριε κύριε, εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν

Notice the quoted speech which here just consists of two words that would be in quotation marks: Κύριε κύριε.

2. ἔσται ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας.

The use of the accusatives ἡμέρας and νύκτας indicates the duration of time, where in English the preposition for is used to express duration ("I have lived here for ten years.")

3. λέγει αὐτῷ . . . Ἰησοῦς, Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή

Note that the subject Ἰησοῦς follows the verb λέγει. Although there are not quotation marks, the capitalized Ἐγώ indicates the beginning of quoted speech.

4. καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς . . . Ὁ οἶκός μου οἶκος προσευχῆς κληθήσεται

The verb κληθήσεται is being used as a linking verb between the subject Ὁ οἶκός μου and the nominative predicate οἶκος προσευχῆς. The genitive here is being used for description ("what kind of house? a house of prayer").

5. λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Εἰ τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ ἐστε, τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἐποιεῖτε

The subject (Ἰησοῦς), as often, follows the verb (λέγει) once again! Although there are not quotation marks, the capitalized Εἰ indicates the beginning of quoted speech. The Hebrew name Ἀβραάμ does not decline; here it is in the genitive, expressing possession ("of Abraham" = "Abraham's"). Notice that the nominative predicate τέκνα comes before the verb (in English, as a rule, the predicate comes after the verb). The object ἔργα comes before the verb ἐποιεῖτε. The neuter plural ἔργα is either nominative or accusative (remember: the nominative and accusative forms of the neuter are always the same). It is from context here you can tell it must be accusative, the object of ἐποιεῖτε.

6. οὐ δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἔργων νόμου

The subject ἄνθρωπος comes after the verb δικαιοῦται.

7. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

The subject λόγος comes after the verb ἦν. Since you cannot tell from word order in Greek which is the subject and which is the nominative predicate, how do you think the phrase καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος should be understood? Is θεὸς the nominative subject of the nominative predicate?

8. καὶ λέγει μοι, . . . σύνδουλός σού εἰμι καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου

The subject of the verb λέγει is not stated, so you only know that it is third person singular (she or he or it). The genitive σού is being used for possession ("of you" = "your"). The nominative predicate σύνδουλός here precedes the verb εἰμι. You can only find the subject of this verb from the context of the passage. (Take a look at the context in Revelation.)


Biblical Greek Online. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. Page last updated: April 9, 2005 8:06 PM


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