With this class, we hit the half-way point of Acts chapter 1. We are
making progress here!
It's Greek to Me (Shakespeare,
Julius Caesar)
I have some trivia to brighten your day. You are, of course,
engaged in remote learning of Greek. We have never met face-to-face
for a class.
The first known instance of remote learning is from 1728, when Caleb
Philipps, a teacher of stenography (a shorthand form of writing) promised an
educational offering through the mail thanks to a small ad he published in
the Boston Gazette.
To read this, you must take into account the "long s" that was used 300
years ago. It looks like an English "f".
The long and short "s" used in the English of three centuries ago is very similar to the two forms of sigma that were used in NT Greek.
The New American Standard Bible and English Standard Version are
intentionally written to be as close to the word order of the Greek as
possible, and still be comprehensible. When I am struggling with
coming up with a basic interlinear rendering, I find it helpful to compare
my work with theirs.
Once you are moderately happy with your interlinear rendering, then download and review the notes on this
verse from the NET Bible. They often have some "tn" translation notes
that will be helpful.
...looking at the NASB, ESV, NET Bible, and finally getting Bob's
comments as you will in the next half of the lesson...
...as you have already noticed, is to try and do the best you can on your
own, then go to an outside aid for
help. This will help you maximize your learning experiences.
Sentence Diagramming
Last lesson, we were looking at Acts 1:18 Οὗτος
μὲν οὖν ἐκτήσατο χωρίον ἐκ μισθοῦ τῆς ἀδικίας, He purchased a
field from the pay for this evil deed.
We had sorted out the basic subject — verb — direct object of the
clause.
Clause: a grammatical unit consisting of one-and-only-one
subject and one-and-only-one predicate.
A clause may stand alone in a simple sentence, in which case we
call it "an independent clause".
It can also support other clauses
in a compound sentence, in which case it is "a dependent clause".
The next thing to deal with is the prepositional phrase ἐκ μισθοῦ,
from pay. A preposition is a linking word that expresses some
relationship with another element of the clause.
ἐκ μισθοῦ is not qualifying or describing the
field. That is, it is not any sort of answer to the question "What
sort of field was it?"
It has, then, an adverbial function, answering the question "just how
did he buy it". So let's connect this prepositional phrase to the
verb.
μισθοῦ is genitive because ἐκ
always wants a genitive noun to follow it. It is the way Greeks
thought of this particular preposisition.
We have two more words in this clause: τῆς ἀδικίας,
for (this) evil deed. They describe the pay he received.
"Which pay was it? The pay he got for this evil deed."
So this phrase functions as an adjective to describe the word μισθοῦ,
pay. So we will attach it to this word, to show that it
describes/is connected to μισθοῦ.
τῆς ἀδικίας is in the genitive because this
is how Greek captured the notion that we express with "from/of/for".
So, he purchased from (the) pay (he received) for
this evil deed.
Well, look at this!! We have diagrammed the first clause of Acts
1:18, and have really clarified in our own minds exactly what each word in
the sentence is doing. When you get to Lesson 15 and it is time to
translate the verse, translating the first clause is going to be a snap.
