Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted a new lesson. I have some music you can listen to get you in the mood as we get going together again.
If you don't recognize this tune, it is sung by Gene Autry, who made a number of cowboy movies back in Hollywood in the 1940s. I was not born until 1953, but some of my early childhood memories when we got our first television in 1958 or so was watching Gene Autry (and Roy Rogers) movies.
Those of you in Ontario may never use—and those of you in India may not even recognize—the idiomatic expression "to be back in the saddle again."
It is a fairly common phrase in Western Canadian English which means "to get back in the habit of doing again."
This is to say, I have begun to get back in the habit of making up web-based lessons from Acts.
Today, we begin to do something brand new. Today you are going to do your first sight-reading of Greek, translating (or at least analyzing) some of the words BEFORE you go to StepBible.org. Woohoo!
I want you to to download a blank translation grid. Print 3 copies—one worksheet for each verse.
On each worksheet, fill in each word of the verse in the Word column.
Then, I want you to do as much analysis as you can. Identify the words in the verse that represent the subject or the direct object—that is the words that are nominative or accusative, as long as they are first or second declension. Also include instances of the direct object.
Do your best to fill in the column called Root. You may be able to do that even if you don't know the meaning of the word.
Of course, also fill in the Category, Case, Number and Gender fields.
After you have done this, then go to StepBible.org to check your work, and fill in the analysis for the rest of the words in the verse.
Do this for each of the three verses in turn.
Acts 1:24 καὶ προσευξάμενοι εἶπαν Σὺ κύριε καρδιογνῶστα πάντων, ἀνάδειξον ὃν ἐξελέξω, ἐκ τούτων τῶν δύο ἕνα,
Acts 1:25 λαβεῖν τὸν τόπον τῆς διακονίας ταύτης καὶ ἀποστολῆς, ἀφ’ ἧς παρέβη Ἰούδας πορευθῆναι εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν ἴδιον.
Acts 1:26 καὶ ἔδωκαν κλήρους αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ κλῆρος ἐπὶ Μαθθίαν, καὶ συγκατεψηφίσθη μετὰ τῶν ἕνδεκα ἀποστόλων.Also, please read each verse out loud to yourself. Do this before you listen to the pronunciation exercise that I have recorded for you.
Without going to StepBible and without looking at an English version, see if you can manage any sort of translation of these verses, even if it is only fragmentary. Your vocabulary is still pretty limited, but see what you can do before you start using other helps.
Please do not give up on handwriting Greek verses. I still find that a good exercise for myself, and it will be doubly good for me.
I don't know if you like using lined paper for handwriting practice, but you can use these if you wish.
Acts 1:24 - handwriting page
Acts 1:25 - handwriting page
Acts 1:26 - handwriting page
...to learn whatever you can from them.