Sunday, May 24, 2020

ἐπί, Places, and People (More from Harris)

Robert Bowman claims that ἐπί should not be rendered "over" when it occurs with place names, but that view certainly is not right. See https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2017/06/an-addendum-to-revelation-510-post.html

Another claim has been that ἐπί should be rendered "on" when persons are being discussed. I've argued contra that view on this blog, but the following quote indicates another reason for rejecting that view.

Murray J. Harris (Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament, page 266, electronic version) writes:

"in marking 'power, authority, control of or over someone or someth[ing]' (BDAG 365c), ἐπί is found with: the accusative (Lk 12:14), 'as judge over you' the genitive (Lk 12:42), 'over his household servants' the dative (Lk 12:44), 'set over all his possessions'"

Two out of three examples above deal with persons ("you" and "household servants,") so how can it be true that ἐπί + the genitive must be translated "on" when the referent is personal rather than impersonal?

17 comments:

Duncan said...

Mark 6:47

Edgar Foster said...

Okay, but Mark 6:47 is not exactly the same thing as Revelation 5:10, Matthew 24:45, Acts 8:27 or Ephesians 4:6.

Duncan said...

Isn't "of" a valid translation?

Edgar Foster said...

Could you clarify your question? Thanks

Duncan said...

EPI as "of" instead of "on" or "over".
Along with mark 6:47, rev 10:5 is also a useful comparison for EPI TES GES.

Edgar Foster said...

Epi can be translated a number of ways, but I'm wondering where we'd ever translate it as of. Mark 6:47 and Rev. 5:10 contain the same phrase, but one is about power or authority. The other is not. That makes a difference.

Edgar Foster said...

See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%BC%90%CF%80%CE%B9-

Duncan said...

One problem is using one exemplar to justify another. Lk 12:14 is rendered "between" in many translations.

Edgar Foster said...

But if you check the major lexica and Harris' work, it becomes clear that epi can be translated different ways, depending on context. It also makes a difference whether epi is used with the accusative or genitive case.

Edgar Foster said...

https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/epi

Duncan said...

But in 12:14 there is a significant difference between "over" and "between".

Edgar Foster said...

True, and either translation is acceptable. We then have to ask which rendering best fits the context.

Duncan said...

But do we have the same divergence of meaning between "on" and "over" as both are to be on top, to rule?

Edgar Foster said...

The English "on" doesn't necessarily denote rulership. Bring on the earth doesn't mean to rule the earth just as being in the waters doesn't necessarily have that meaning. Most times, such phrases are locational or locative.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/on

Edgar Foster said...

More comments from M.J. Harris' book:

From the simple spatial meaning of ἐπί (“upon”) there naturally developed a multitude of derived senses, so that the preposition may express, inter alia: 1. basis: Mt 4:4; Lk 5:5; 1Ti 5:19; ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει, “on the basis of faith” (BDAG 364d), Ac 3:16 and Php 3:9 2. cause: Mk 12:17; 2Co 9:13; Phm 7 3. circumstance: Ro 8:20; 1Co 9:10; Tit 1:2 4. superintendence: Mt 2:22; Lk 12:44; Ac 6:3 5. addition: Lk 3:20; 2Co 7:13; Php 2:27 6. purpose: Mt 3:7, ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα αὐτοῦ, “for baptism by him/to have themselves baptized by him” (similarly BDAG 366a); Gal 5:13, ἐπʼ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε, “you were called to/for freedom,” “freedom claimed you when you were called” (R. Knox), a statement epitomizing the argument of this letter that has been called “the charter of Christian liberty”; also Eph 2:10; 1Th 4:7 Of special interest is the use of ἐπί (with the accusative) to denote individuals or groups on whom some spiritual blessing comes or rests—blessings such as the word of God (Lk 3:2), the kingdom of God (Mt 12:28; Lk 10:9), the grace of God (Lk 2:40), the Holy Spirit (Lk 2:26; Ac 1:8; 2:17–18; 10:45; Tit 3:6; 1Pe 4:14), and the power of Christ (2Co 12:9).

Duncan said...

And HUPER?

Edgar Foster said...

Harris write a lot about hUPER, but here are his initial comments on the preposition:

The original local sense of ὑπέρ as “[situated] over or above” someone or something, without actual contact, is found in Classical Greek (e.g., Herodotus, Hist. 2.6.19) and occasionally in the papyri (Rossberg 40; Mayser 461) but not in the LXX or NT (apart from a variant in Heb 9:5 read by D* E*; most MSS have ὑπεράνω). In frequency of occurrence, ὑπέρ ranks thirteenth out of the seventeen “proper” prepositions in the NT, the LXX, and the Ptolemaic papyri (see the chart on p. 32). Υπέρ with the genitive is far more common than ὑπέρ with the accusative, accounting for 87% of the 150 uses. The commonest meaning of this preposition (“on behalf of”) seems to have arisen from the image of one person standing or bending over another in order to shield or protect him, or of a shield lifted over the head that suffers the blow instead of the person (cf. ὑπερ ασπίζω, “cover with a shield”).

See also Smyth at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007%3Apart%3D4%3Achapter%3D43%3Asection%3D101%3Asubsection%3D110