Friday, June 11, 2021

Hebrews 1:3 (Latin Vulgate)-Comments and Parsing-In Progress

Hebrews 1:3 (Latin Vulgate): qui cum sit splendor gloriae et figura substantiae eius portansque omnia verbo virtutis suae purgationem peccatorum faciens sedit ad dexteram Maiestatis in excelsis

See https://vulgate.org/nt/epistle/hebrews_1.htm

Comments and Parsing: qui can function as an adjective or pronoun, but here it is a relative pronoun that could be rendered "who": the morphology is masculine nominative singular. The cum clause occurs with the verb sit (third person singular of the present subjunctive active); translate "being." According to Allen and Greenough:
"From defining the time the cum clause passed over to the description of the time by means of its attendant circumstances of cause or concession (cf. since, while)." See sections 544, 549.

Next comes a singular genitive phrase: "splendor gloriae" (construe with eius); splendor could be glossed as "brightness, luster or splendor" or it possibly could be rendered "brilliance." Gloriae (first declension) is feminine genitive singular ("of glory") and should likewise be construed with eius.

et figura substantiae eius-In this context, figura could be translated "shape, form, figure or image." Substantiae is feminine genitive singular (a first declension noun); render as "substance, nature" or "essence." The pronoun eius is masculine genitive singular of is (ea, id): translate "his."

portansque omnia verbo virtutis suae-the first word is a present participle singular masculine nominative of porto and it has the enclitic -que ("and"); the verb porto can signify "to bear, carry, bring" but it means "uphold" or "sustain" here.

Omnia-an adjective that is neuter accusative plural of omnis (all, every); verbo is neuter ablative singular of verbum ("word").
Virtutis is masculine genitive singular of virtus which can mean "power, strength, vigor," depending on the context. Suae is an adjective that is feminine genitive singular of suus ("of oneself, his own").

purgationem peccatorum faciens
-this portion of the verse begins with a  feminine accusative
singular of purgatio ("a cleansing, purging"); peccatorum is neuter genitive plural of peccatum, a word that denotes sin, transgression, error, guilt. Faciens is a present participle masculine nominative singular of facio: "make, do, act."

B.F. Westcott argues that the Latin Vulgate "fails to give the sense" of Hebrews 1:3 in Greek due to the "defectiveness" of Latin participles (page 15); on the other hand, the Old Latin (Vetus Latina) leaves the thought indefinite by using purificatione (purgatione) peccatorum facta.

sedit ad dexteram Maiestatis in excelsis-the verb is third person singular perfect active indicative of sedeo ("I sit, am seated"): translate "sat." Ad dexteram

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