Gegraptai

Τί οὖν; προεχόμεθα¹; οὐ πάντως, προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ελληνας πάντας ὑφ’ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι, καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος οὐδὲ εἷς, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ συνίων, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν. πάντες ἐξέκλιναν, ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν: οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ποιῶν χρηστότητα, [οὐκ ἔστιν] ἕως ἑνός. τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν, ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν, ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν, ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει: ὀξεῖς οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι αἷμα, σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν. οὐκ ἔστιν φόβος θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν. Οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὅσα ὁ νόμος λέγει τοῖς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ λαλεῖ, ἵνα πᾶν στόμα φραγῇ καὶ ὑπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τῷ θεῷ: διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας.

What then? Are we at a disadvantage? Not at all, for we already accused all—both Jews and Greeks—to be under sin, just as it is written:

“A righteous person does not exist, not even one; one who understands does not exist; one who seeks after God does not exist. All turned aside; together they were corrupted. One who practices integrity does not exist; there is not even as many as one. Their throat is an opened grave; they were deceiving with their tongues; the poison of asps is upon their lips, of which the mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are quick to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their paths, and they did not know the path of peace. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

But we have known that whatever the law says, it is speaks to those in the law, so that every mouth might be silenced and the entire world might become accountable to God. Therefore all flesh will not be made righteous in his presence by works of the law; for knowledge of sin is through the law.

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Vocab:

προεχόμεθα - pres. mid./pass. ind. 1 pl. from προέχω: to have before or in advance of another, hence to have an advantage; to excel, surpass; (see note)

προῃτιασάμεθα - aor. mid. (dep.) ind. 1 pl. from προαιτιάομαι: to reach a charge of guilt prior to an implied time, accuse beforehand

συνίων - pres. act. part. nom. sg. masc. from συνίημι: to understand, comprehend

ἐξέκλιναν - aor. act. ind. 3 pl. from ἐκκλίνω: steer clear of, stray away from, avoid; turn aside, deviate from

ἠχρεώθησαν - aor. pass. ind. 3 pl. from ἀκρειόω: make useless; become depraved, corrupt, worthless

χρηστότητα - acc. sg. fem.; moral goodness, integrity; kindness

τάφος - nom. sg. masc.; burial; grave

ἀνεῳγμένος - perf. pass. part. nom. sg. masc. from ἀνοίγω: to open

λάρυγξ (think “larynx”) - nom. sg. masc.; throat

ἰὸς - nom. sg. masc.; poison

ἀσπίδων - gen. pl. fem.; asp

ὀξεῖς - nom. pl. masc.; quick

ἐκχέαι - aor. act. inf. from ἐκχέω: to pour out, shed

ἀπέναντι - adv.; opposite, against, before

φραγῇ - aor. pass. subj. 3 sg. from φράσσω: to block, stop, close up; put to silence

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Notes:

¹ This one’s a bit tricky. The textual variants here betray the confusion of the early copyists on Paul’s meaning here, also. Some (e.g. NIV, NASB, and Witherington’s commentary) interpret this as having an active meaning (i.e. “we have an advantage”). I don’t think so. It is in the middle/passive, and it ought to be translated as such. BDAG has a helpful extended discussion on this instance of προέχω, in which it is mentioned that if indeed the middle is taken to have the same meaning as the active here, the active meaning for the middle is not found elsewhere. That is helpful, but ultimately I’m not keen on the interpretive options BDAG provides. LSJ gives the passive definition “to be excelled,” and for this particular instance, “to be in worst case.” This makes the most sense to me in context, so I’ve gone with “to be at a disadvantage.” Jewett also translates it this way in his commentary, and the NRSV lists this as a possible translation in a footnote as well.

It’s about time I started these back up. Even though I won’t be blogging for the next couple of weeks, I can at least try to do these every couple of days. I’m going to try out adding vocab lists and probably some notes from time to time for convenience. This way, no one who is familiar with Greek should have an excuse not to read the Greek text, expert or not! If it takes too long, I may have to cut back on those things, though. We’ll see how it goes.

So, without further ado, here is today’s reading from Matthew 15:21-28:

Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐκεῖθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὰ μέρη Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος. καὶ ἰδοὺ γυνὴ Χαναναία ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων ἐκείνων ἐξελθοῦσα ἔκραζεν λέγουσα, Ἐλέησόν με, κύριε υἱὸς Δαυίδ˙ ἡ θυγάτηρ μου κακῶς δαιμονίζεται. ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῇ λόγον. καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἠρώτουν αὐτὸν λέγοντες, Ἀπόλυσον αὐτήν, ὅτι κράζει ὄπισθεν ἡμῶν. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν, Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. ἡ δὲ ἐλθοῦσα προσεκύνει αὐτῷ λέγουσα, Κύριε, βοήθει μοι. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν, Οὐκ ἔστιν καλὸν λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυναρίοις. ἡ δὲ εἶπεν, Ναὶ κύριε, καὶ γὰρ τὰ κυνάρια ἐσθίει ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν κυρίων αὐτῶν. τότε ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῇ, Ὦ γύναι, μεγάλη σου ἡ πίστις˙ γενηθήτω σοι ὡς θέλεις. καὶ ἰάθη ἡ θυγάτηρ αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης.

And Jesus went out from there and withdrew into the districts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a Canaanite woman came out from those regions and began calling out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is badly demon-possessed.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came to [him] and began asking him, saying, “Send her away, because she is crying out after us.” But he answered and said, “I was sent only unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she went and began kneeling before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” But he answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat from the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that time.

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Vocab:

ἐκεῖθεν - adv., there, that place

Τύρου - from Τύρος, Tyre

Σιδῶνος - from Σιδῶν, Sidon

Χαναναία - Canaanite

ἔκραζεν - imperf. act. ind. 3 sing., from κράζω; to croak (as of a raven), hence to cry out, call out

ἀπολωλότα - perf. act. part. acc. pl. neut., from ἀπόλλυμι; to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed

προσεκύνει - imperf. act. ind. 3 sing., from προσκυνέω; to kneel as an expression of supplication or reverence

κυναρίοις - dat. pl., from κυνάριον; a dog

ψιχίων - gen. pl., from ψιχίον; crumb

τραπέζης - gen. sing., from τραπέζα; table

ἰάθη - aor. pass. ind. 3 sing., from ἰάομαι; to cure, heal, make whole

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Notes:

This passage is pretty straightforward (or maybe it just seems that way to me after working through Thucydides last semester!), so there’s not much to note here. Here are a few basic things:

• Lots of attendant circumstance participles. Matthew uses these relatively frequently.
• Several occurrences of what may be the ingressive imperfect (if indeed there is such a thing).
• The final γάρ (”yet even the dogs…”) coordinates rather than subordinates here. Rather than the usual “for” or “because,” it should be translated something like “yet” in such cases.

It’s from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War 1.2.2:

τῆς γὰρ ἐμπορίας οὐκ οὔσης, οὐδ᾽ ἐπιμειγνύντες ἀδεῶς ἀλλήλοις οὔτε κατὰ γῆν οὔτε διὰ θαλάσσης, νεμόμενοί τε τὰ αὑτῶν ἕκαστοι ὅσον ἀποζῆν καὶ περιουσίαν χρημάτων οὐκ ἔχοντες οὐδὲ γῆν φυτεύοντες, ἄδηλον ὂν ὁπότε τις ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἀτειχίστων ἅμα ὄντων ἄλλος ἀφαιρήσεται, τῆς τε καθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίου τροφῆς πανταχοῦ ἂν ἡγούμενοι ἐπικρατεῖν, οὐ χαλεπῶς ἀπανίσταντο, καὶ δι᾽ αὐτὸ οὔτε μεγέθει πόλεων ἴσχυον οὔτε τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ.

Here’s my rough-draft translation. I put the main verb, which finally appears near the end, in bold:

For because there was no commerce nor fearless mingling with one another neither by land nor through the sea; and because they were distributing among themselves their own things, each enough to live off; and because they had no abundance of property nor planted the ground, since they were unsure when some other, approaching, (and being at the same time unfortified) might take from them; and because they believed themselves to be in possession of their daily necessary nourishment wherever, they were not departing with difficulty; and because of this they were neither strong with respect to greatness of cities nor in another means.

Ἰγνάτιος, ὁ καὶ Θεοφόρος, τῇ ἠλεημένῃ ἐν μεγαλειότητι πατρὸς ὑψίστου καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ μόνου υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἠγαπημένῃ καὶ πεφωτισμένῃ ἐν θελήματι τοῦ θελήσαντος τὰ πάντα, ἃ ἔστιν, κατὰ ἀγάπην Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν, ἥτις καὶ προκάθηται ἐν τόπῳ χωρίου ῾Ρωμαίων, ἀξιόθεος, ἀξιεπίτευκτος, ἀξίαγνος καὶ προκαθημένη τῆς ἀγάπης, χριστώνυμος, πατρώνυμος, ἣν καὶ ἀσπάζομαι ἐν ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ πατρός· κατὰ σάρκα καὶ πνεῦμα ἡνωμένοις πάσῃ ἐντολῇ αὐτοῦ, πεπληρωμένοις χάριτος θεοῦ ἀδιακρίτως καὶ ἀποδιϋλισμένοις ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀλλοτρίου χρώματος πλεῖστα ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ, τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, ἀμώμως χαίρειν.

Ignatius, who is also [called] Theophorus, to she that has been shown mercy through the majesty of the Most High Father and of Jesus Christ, his only Son; to the church which has been beloved and enlightened in the will of the One who wills all things which are in accordance with the love of Jesus Christ, our God; which also presides in the land of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and presiding over love, named after Christ, named after the Father; which I also greet in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father; to those who have been united according to flesh and spirit to each of his commandments, have been filled firmly with the grace of God, and are being separated from every strange color: Abundant greetings blamelessly in Jesus Christ, our God.
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Vocab:

μεγαλειότητι - DS, μεγαλειότης: majesty, magnificence, greatness; as a title, Majesty

πεφωτισμένῃ -  Pf M/P Ptc - DSF, φωτίζω: shine, give light; illuminate; bring light to, make known; enlighten, instruct, teach; illuminate with spiritual light

ἀσπάζομαι - Pr (Dep) Ind - 1S: greet, welcome

ἡνωμένοις - Pf M/P Ptc - DPM, ἑνόω: unite

ἀδιακρίτως - Adv: without wavering

πλεῖστα - NPN, πλεῖστος: greatest, most; Adv., greatly, abundantly; freq. used in letters with χαίρειν

Καὶ ἔλεγεν, Οὕτως ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς ἄνθρωπος βάλῃ τὸν σπόρον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος βλαστᾷ καὶ μηκύνηται ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός. αὐτομάτη ἡ γῆ καρποφορεῖ, πρῶτον χόρτον, εἶτα στάχυν, εἶτα πλήρη[ς] σῖτον ἐν τῷ στάχυϊ. ὅταν δὲ παραδοῖ ὁ καρπός, εὐθὺς ἀποστέλλει τὸ δρέπανον, ὅτι παρέστηκεν ὁ θερισμός.

And he was saying, “Thus is the kingdom of God: as if a person scatters seed upon the ground and sleeps and wakes night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The ground produces on its own: first grass, then the ear, then full grain in the ear. But whenever the crop permits, he immediately sends out the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Today’s reading is from 1 Corinthians 1:10-17:

Παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ λέγητε πάντες, καὶ μὴ ᾖ ἐν ὑμῖν σχίσματα, ἦτε δὲ κατηρτισμένοι ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ νοῒ καὶ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ γνώμῃ. ἐδηλώθη γάρ μοι περὶ ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί μου, ὑπὸ τῶν Χλόης ὅτι ἔριδες ἐν ὑμῖν εἰσιν. λέγω δὲ τοῦτο, ὅτι ἕκαστος ὑμῶν λέγει, Ἐγὼ μέν εἰμι Παύλου, Ἐγὼ δὲ Ἀπολλῶ, Ἐγὼ δὲ Κηφᾶ, Ἐγὼ δὲ Χριστοῦ. μεμέρισται ὁ Χριστός; μὴ Παῦλος ἐσταυρώθη ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ἢ εἰς τὸ ὄνομα Παύλου ἐβαπτίσθητε; εὐχαριστῶ [τῷ θεῷ] ὅτι οὐδένα ὑμῶν ἐβάπτισα εἰ μὴ Κρίσπον καὶ Γάϊον, ἵνα μή τις εἴπῃ ὅτι εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα ἐβαπτίσθητε. ἐβάπτισα δὲ καὶ τὸν Στεφανᾶ οἶκον: λοιπὸν οὐκ οἶδα εἴ τινα ἄλλον ἐβάπτισα. οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλέν με Χριστὸς βαπτίζειν ἀλλὰ εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ λόγου, ἵνα μὴ κενωθῇ ὁ σταυρὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

I encourage you, brothers and sisters, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you might all be in agreement and no division be among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been made known to me by Chloe’s people concerning you, my brothers and sisters, that there are contentions among you. I mean this: that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you. Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I give thanks that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. But I also baptized the house of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, not with cleverness in speaking, lest the cross of Christ be rendered vain.

From Matthew 10:39:

ὁ εὑρὼν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν, καὶ ὁ ἀπολέσας τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ εὑρήσει αὐτήν.

The one who finds one’s life will lose it, and the one who loses one’s life for my sake will find it.

Today’s reading is from Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector:

Εἶπεν δὲ καὶ πρός τινας τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῖς ὅτι εἰσὶν δίκαιοι καὶ ἐξουθενοῦντας τοὺς λοιποὺς τὴν παραβολὴν ταύτην: Ἄνθρωποι δύο ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν προσεύξασθαι, ὁ εἷς Φαρισαῖος καὶ ὁ ἕτερος τελώνης. ὁ Φαρισαῖος σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ταῦτα προσηύχετο, Ὁ θεός, εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅρπαγες, ἄδικοι, μοιχοί, ἢ καὶ ὡς οὗτος ὁ τελώνης: νηστεύω δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου, ἀποδεκατῶ πάντα ὅσα κτῶμαι. ὁ δὲ τελώνης μακρόθεν ἑστὼς οὐκ ἤθελεν οὐδὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπᾶραι εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, ἀλλ’ ἔτυπτεν τὸ στῆθος αὐτοῦ λέγων, Ὁ θεός, ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ. λέγω ὑμῖν, κατέβη οὗτος δεδικαιωμένος εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ παρ’ ἐκεῖνον: ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται.

And he also told this parable to some who persuaded themselves that they were righteous and held others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying these things to himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—thieves, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I tithe everything I acquire.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, was not even willing to lift up his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified instead of the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Today’s reading, from Matthew 6:1-2:

Προσέχετε [δὲ] τὴν δικαιοσύνην ὑμῶν μὴ ποιεῖν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι αὐτοῖς: εἰ δὲ μή γε, μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχετε παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν τῷ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Οταν οὖν ποιῇς ἐλεημοσύνην, μὴ σαλπίσῃς ἔμπροσθέν σου, ὥσπερ οἱ ὑποκριταὶ ποιοῦσιν ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ ἐν ταῖς ῥύμαις, ὅπως δοξασθῶσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων: ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀπέχουσιν τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν.

Pay close attention not to practice your righteousness in front of people to be seen by them; otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, whenever you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet in front of you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they might be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their full reward.

From Philippians 2:1-4:

Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί, πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαρὰν ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἔχοντες, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες, μηδὲν κατ’ ἐριθείαν μηδὲ κατὰ κενοδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀλλήλους ἡγούμενοι ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν, μὴ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος σκοποῦντες, ἀλλὰ [καὶ] τὰ ἑτέρων ἕκαστοι.

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any comfort from love, if there is any fellowship in the Spirit, if there is any affection and compassion, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, united, minding one thing. Do nothing out of hostility or empty conceit, but in humility, regard one another as better than yourselves, each looking not only to one’s own interests, but also to [those of] others.