GLOSSARY:
The Ancient Voices Bible,
Dewayne Dulaney Version (DDV)
Special Thanks and Acknowledgements:
I owe a great debt to several Greek scholars and linguists, as well as other scholars, for help in preparing this glossary. In particular, I would like to thank the following Greek scholars and linguists of the current generation for help in correcting my understanding of, and in clarifying the uses of, the Greek aorist, perfect, and the medio-passive (middle-passive) voice system: Dr. Seamas Macdonald, of the blog The Patrologist, https://thepatrologist.com/, who also teaches Greek and Latin courses online; Dr. Rachel Aubrey, for her articles and other studies on the Greek medio-passive system, who works with SIL International as a linguist and Bible translation consultant; and Dr. Michael Aubrey, her husband, of the blog Koine-Greek, https://koine-greek.com/, who also works with SIL International as a linguist and Bible translation consultant. The articles below on the Greek aorist, perfect, middle, and passive have been revised in accordance with improved understandings due to the help of the above mentioned scholars. Any remaining imperfections, are of course, my responsibility.
Note: Terms discussed in the Glossary are marked with * in the translation footnotes and in the Appendixes.
Accusative: the most widely used of the Greek cases. Its root idea is limitation (extent, duration, direction, etc.). Most commonly it is used with nouns and pronouns, indicating the noun or pronoun receives the action of the verb (accusative of direct object) or to modify or limit a verb in an indirect way (adverbial accusative) as to measure, manner, reference, or goal.
Active voice: In grammar, voice shows how the action of the verb is related to the subject. There are 3 voices in Greek: active, middle, and passive. (In Hebrew they are active, reflexive, and passive.) The active voice is the most frequently used in the NT. It represents the subject as producing the action or existing. (See also “middle voice”, “passive voice”.)
Aorist: the most prevalent tense of the Greek verb in the New Testament. While often used to refer to an action in the past, it does not always do so. Outside of the indicative (See Indicative”) it indicates kind of action (aspect) rather than time of action. It denotes a simple occurrence without defining or describing it; it says nothing about the progress of the action.
Aramaic: One of the everyday languages of Jews in Israel in New Testament times. It was widely used in Old Testament times in the Middle East as a trade and diplomatic language, and was adopted by the Jews while in Babylonian exile. In the period from the 5th century B.C. to A.D. 300, it gradually replaced Hebrew in everyday use among Jews in Israel and those in Syria and Mesopotamia. It was closely related to Hebrew in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation; and both languages came to be written with the same script.
Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholarship concluded that Jesus and most other Palestinian Jews of his day only spoke Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Later twentieth-century and early twenty first-century researches, drawing on inscriptions and other documentary finds, as well as a better knowledge of rabbinical Hebrew, challenged this conclusion. Many scholars now believe that a trilingual Jewish environment existed in first-century Israel: Hebrew continued to be spoken as an everyday language alongside Aramaic and Greek. My Bible translation, therefore, takes the word Ἑβραϊστί and related terms in the New Testament to mean “Hebrew” rather than Aramaic.
Article: in English, we have two types of articles: the indefinite (“a”, “an”) and the definite (“the”). In Greek, there is only the definite article, although other forms such as tis and eis are sometimes used with the force of an indefinite article. The Greek article developed from the demonstrative pronoun, and still retains much of its force. Greek nouns with the article are either definite or generic; nouns without one are indefinite or qualitative (giving a quality or characteristic). Generally when the article is used, it draws attention to a word or idea. The use or non-use of the article is often important theologically and is frequently crucial in correct interpretation of the New Testament (as, for example, in statements concerning the deity of Christ as the “Word” or “Message” in Jn. 1). Because its uses do not always correspond to those in English, the interpreter of the Bible must study the uses of the Greek article carefully.
Dative: case of Grk. nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives and prepositions used with verbs to indicate the one to whom, for whom, or in whose interest something is done (indirect object); the direct objects of certain verbs; and possession (to whom a thing belongs). Some grammarians include the locative and instrumental (see “instrumental”) cases in the dative.
Eisegesis: from the Grk. eis, “into”, + ēgéomai, “I lead”; in the field of Biblical interpretation, it is the reading into the text what the reader wants it to say (and mean) rather than determining the intended meaning of the inspired writer. The opposite of exegesis (see “exegesis”). As Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. wisely says, “It is the interpreter’s job to represent the text [his emphasis], not the prejudices, feelings, judgments, or concerns of the exegete.” (Toward an Exegetical Theology, p. 45.)
Exegesis: from the Grk. ex, “out of”, + ēgéomai, “I lead”; in the field of Biblical interpretation, the practice of and the proceedures for discovering the inspired author’s intended meaning. As Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. says, “Exegesis will seek to identify the single truth-intention of individual phrases, clauses, and sentences as they make up the thought of paragraphs, sections, and ultimately, entire books”; a proper exegesis, therefore, is at the heart and is the foundation of all Bible translation work.
This also means that while a translator who aims for an idiomatic translation (which ultimately should be the goal of any translation project; see “idiomatic translation”) must often abandon word-for-word translation, he or she must not ignore the words and grammar of the original; indeed a proper analysis of them, including exegesis, is essential to producing an idiomatic translation that is faithful to the meaning of the original.
A related term is “exegete”, used as verb meaning “to practice exegesis”, and as a noun describing the person who does exegesis.
Formal Equivalence translation: (abbreviated as “FE translation” in the notes) often referred to as word-for-word or “literal” translation. While this approach can be useful in discussions of the specific vocabulary and grammar of the original languages of the Bible, it is not feasible as a general method of translation, though often attempted. Even those Bible versions which have set this as a goal do not achieve it completely: languages differ too much in how they express ideas to make such possible all the time and have the result be understood. And since the goal of translation is to transfer meaning from one language to another, i.e., communication, any translation which does not do so has failed in its purpose. See also “idiomatic translation”.
A word should also be said about the term “literal” translation. Usually I have avoided using this term and its equivalent “literally” in the notes and the Glossary, as these terms are based on a fallacy: the notion that words only have one root or core meaning. Generally speaking, however, most words have a range of meaning, although normally they only have one meaning in a particular context. Instead, I have used either the phrase “FE [formal equivalence] translation” or “word-for-word” translation.
Genitive: case of Grk. nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives, and prepositions that defines or describes them as to kind. It is often expressed in English by the preposition “of” or by the possessive form.
Hebraism: a Hebrew idiom (see “idiom”) translated word-for-word into Greek, even though it is not a natural expression in that language. Hebraisms which occur in the Greek New Testament have often then been translated word-for-word into English and other languages, though again usually such is not the natural way to express them in the receptor language (see “receptor language”). Most of them in the New Testament come from their use in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. Examples in the NT include “sons of the bridechamber”, meaning “wedding guests”; “to have an evil eye” meaning “to be envious”, and “‘living’ water”, meaning “fresh” or “running” water (as opposed to water collected in a cistern from rainfall, called “dead” because it tended to stagnate). Some expressions in the Greek New Testament formerly thought to be Hebraisms are now recognized as normal expressions in Hellenistic Greek (see “Hellenistic”), the variety in which the New Testament was written. These Hellenistic Grk. expressions differ considerably from their Classical equivalents. The translator should avoid using Hebraisms and find an expression equivalent in meaning in the receptor language. See also “Hebrew” (next entry).
Hebrew: The language in which most of the Old Testament was written, with the exception of about half of the book of Daniel and parts of Ezra, which are written in Aramaic, a close cousin. Many of the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Hebrew. The language continued in use until about A.D. 300 in Israel as a everyday language and also as a language of the Jewish rabbis. It gradually was replaced by Aramaic in common use among the Jews.
Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholarship concluded that Jesus and most other Palestinian Jews of his day only spoke Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Later twentieth-century and early twenty first-century researches, drawing on inscriptions and other documentary finds, as well as a better knowledge of rabbinical Hebrew, challenged this conclusion. Many scholars now believe that a trilingual Jewish environment existed in first-century Israel: Hebrew continued to be spoken as an everyday language alongside Aramaic and Greek. My Bible translation, therefore, takes the word Ἑβραϊστί and related terms in the New Testament to mean “Hebrew” rather than Aramaic. See also “Hebraism” (previous entry), “Aramaic”.
Hellenistic: simplified form of the Greek language into which the Septuagint, the Greek version of the OT, was translated (3rd to 2nd centuries B.C.), and the New Testament was written. The term relates to Hellenist, one who accepts the Greek language and culture, and Hellas, the Greeks’ name for their country. Hellenistic Greek flourished from 330 B.C. to A.D. 330. Unlike the Classical Greek which preceded it, Hellenistic Greek was primarily the language of everyday, and generally was not used for literature or philosophy. Spread by the conquests of Alexander in the 4th century B.C., it soon became an international language in the Greek and then Roman worlds, much as English is today on a larger scale. It was thus ideal as a medium for spreading God’s revelation in written form outside the Jewish people and to many Jewish people living outside Palestine who no longer spoke the ancestral languages of Hebrew and Aramaic. This form of Greek is also known as Koine, or common, Greek because it was the everyday language of those who spoke it, as opposed to Classical or Attic (based on the dialect of Athens) Greek, used for literature. Most Jews in first-century Israel, particularly in Galilee, where Jesus carried out most of his earthly ministry, were bilingual in Hellenistic Greek and in Aramaic. (See “Aramaic”.) Many Jews also spoke Hebrew as well.
Usage of this form of Greek often differs from classical Greek, a fact that Bible translators often failed to recognize until the discoveries of the secular Greek papyri began in the late 1800’s; even today, translators are not always aware of its significance.
Hendiadys: from the Grk. for “one through two”, a figure of speech in Biblical Hebrew and Greek where one thought is expressed by two words connected by “and” (Translator’s Handbook on John, Appendix II, 653). This figure has been well known to scholars, but is seldom recognized in traditional Bible translations. A possible example in Jn. is “Spirit and truth” in 4:23, which would mean “Spirit who reveals truth”. Another example is “Spirit and life” in 6:63, which evidently means “Spirit who gives life”/”life-giving Spirit”. The word-for-word translation of these phrases does not give the intended meaning.
Hiphil: Hebrew verb stem that usually expresses the causative of the Qal (see Qal) or “simple” stem. For example, the Qal form ’akhal means “he ate”, while the Hiphil form he’ekhiyl means “he caused to eat”, i.e., “he fed”. Often the Hiph. has a declarative sense (to pronounce innocent or guilty). Some verbs do not have a Qal stem and use the Hiph. for simple action.
Historical present: tense of the Greek verb used in narrative to make the account more vivid to the reader, as the same tense is often used in speech. Although using present tense forms, the tense actually is dealing with action in the past; modern English usage generally tends to avoid this form in narrative, so translators today usually turn such forms into the past tense.
Idiom: an expression consisting of several words whose meaning cannot be determined from the individual words; for example, the English idiom “sleep on it” means ” think about” or ” consider”. Such expressions usually cannot (or if they can, should not) be translated word-for-word into another language; instead, an expression equivalent in meaning should be used.
Idiomatic translation: method of translating that seeks to put words and phrases in a foreign language into the most natural equivalent words and phrases in the language into which the translation is made, the receptor language (see “receptor language”). To achieve this, one must often abandon a strictly word-for-word translation, because languages differ tremendously in grammar, vocabulary usage, and idioms. Failure to recognize this has often led to wrong, misleading, or obscure translations of the Bible in many passages. In current scholarly literature, idiomatic translation and word-for-word translation are often referred to as “functional equivalence” (sometimes known as “dynamic equivalence”) and “formal equivalence”, respectively.
Imperative: the mood of the verb for giving commands.
Imperfect: tense of the Greek verb that deals with continued, repeated, or habitual action in the past.
Indicative: the mood of the verb for statements and questions presented as real or fact from the point of view of the speaker; that is, the action in question is conceived as real, not potential. It
does not consider whether the statement itself is true or false.
Infinitive: a hybrid form that functions as both verb and noun; in English often preceded by “to”, as in “to save”, “to destroy”, etc.
Infinitive absolute: in Hebrew grammar, a form of an infinitive verb used to emphasize a verbal idea in the abstract, that is, without considering the agent or the circumstances of time and mood in which it takes place. It can take an object, like other verbs. Other uses include acting as an adverb to express manner and its function with a finite verb of the same stem to define more accurately or strengthen the idea of verb, or to intensify it. This latter use often is expressed with words like “certainly” or “surely”, as in “you will surely die”, which in Hebrew is expressed as “to die you will die”, using the infinitive absolute with an imperfect of the verb “die”. (In Hebrew, the imperfect may deal with past action, as it does in Greek, but more commonly deals with the future, as in the example just given.)
Instrumental: case of Greek nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives, and prepositions that expresses ideas of means, association, and accompaniment. In translation words such as “by” and “with” are frequently used to express this case. Some grammarians include it in the dative (see “dative”).
Metaphorical: the figurative sense of a word or phrase. Such use of words and images in the Biblical languages sometimes corresponds to English use, but not always. One example which does not correspond with English use is the Hebrew and Greek expression “living water” to describe fresh water, especially running water from a spring, as in John 4. In Jesus’ day, this phrase was used to describe earthly water, but he extended it to refer to spiritual water.
Middle voice: in Greek verbs, the voice which points to the subject as participating in the results of the action. It has no equivalent in English. It often presents the subject as acting on, for, or by himself. The middle can be reflexive (“He hanged himself”), reciprocal (“They were teaching one another”), permissive (“Why not let yourselves be wronged?”), causative (“be [get yourself] baptized”), intensive (“having himself secured eternal redemption”), or dynamic (mental action). In form, the middle often resembles the passive. (See “passive voice”.)
Mishna: (Heb., “repetition”, “explanation”, “teaching”) a written collection of rabbinic law that previously had been passed down orally, completed ca. A.D. 200, composed in Hebrew. It forms one of two main divisions of the Talmud (Heb.,”teaching”, < lamad), the second being the Gemara (Aram., “to complete”, “accomplish”, “learn”), composed in Aramaic, which is an expanded commentary on the Mishna completed c. A.D. 500. The Gemara was passed down in both Palestinian and Babylonian traditions; the latter is larger and more authoritative.
Nominative: case used with Greek nouns, pronouns, articles, and adjectives to give more specific identification to the subject of the verb, among other uses.
Participle: A hybrid form that has characteristics of both verb and adjective. As a verb it has voice and tense, may be either transitive(taking objects)or intransitive, and may take adverbial modifiers. As an adjective it is declined in all genders and both numbers(sing. and pl.), and may be used in any way that an adjective is used. Both verbal and adjectival elements will always
be present in the participle, though the emphasis will vary: in some cases the verbal idea is stressed, and in others the adjectival idea comes to the forefront.
Passive voice: in Greek grammar, presents the subject as being acted upon by an outside agent, as receiving the action instead of producing the action. Passive verbs are generally intransitive, i.e., they do not take an object. Some are even reflexive (subject acting on himself), overlapping with the function of the middle. Often the passive and the middle are alike in form. Greek and Hebrew often use the passive where English tends to prefer the active; in such cases, the translator should substitute the appropriate active form for the passive.
Passive of divine avoidance: use of a passive verbal construction by a Jewish writer or speaker that avoids referring directly to God, even though he is the subject of the verb. (In the Beatitudes, for example, “they shall be comforted” actually means “God will comfort them”.) This is not a true passive, grammatically, because God is actually the subject. This usage, like the substitution of “Lord” for “Yahweh”, probably stems from a misunderstanding of the intent of the command against misusing God’s name (“taking it in vain”). Many translators today recognize that such constructions are actually active in meaning though passive in form in the original, and so translate them as active forms, giving the implied subject (God).
Patristic: [Lat. and Grk. patēr, patr-, “father”] the Greek used by the “Church Fathers”, writers of uninspired Christian literature (non-biblical writings).
Perfect: tense of the Greek verb that expresses a present state resulting from past action. There is no exact parallel to it in English. Sometimes it is equivalent to an emphatic present (focusing on the continuing results); sometimes it is used of repeated action in the past; sometimes it is used to speak vividly of a past event as though it were taking place in the present (compare “historical present”).The last usage is especially prominent in John’s Gospel.
Qal (Kal): simple, active stem of the Hebrew verb from which other stems, or binyanim, are derived. Some grammarians prefer the term “ground stem” (G-stem).
Receptor language: the language into which one is translating, also known as the “target language”. (The language from which one is translating, the original language, is also known as the “source language”.) In the case of this translation of John, English is the receptor language and Greek is the source language. One should translate using words and expressions that are clear, natural, and grammatically correct in the receptor language—a point that should be self-evident, but often is not, even to translators—while striving to put across accurately the meaning of the source language. (See also “idiomatic translation”.)
Semitic: the group of languages that includes Hebrew and Aramaic, the languages of the Old Testament and of rabbinic literature (including their modern forms); Syriac, the eastern dialect of Aramaic, which became important in the first five centuries of the Christian era; Phoenician; Ugaritic, a Canaanite language of ancient Syria; Akkadian, the language of the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians; Ethiopic, and Arabic, an important world language today. The name comes from Sem, the Greek spelling of Shem, son of Noah. “Semitic” and “Semite” are also used to refer to the peoples speaking those languages; the latter term is especially used today to refer to Jews and Arabs.
Semiticism: a term used to refer to an expression from Hebrew or Aramaic translated word-for-word into Greek or another language, particularly when it is uncertain which of the two languages the expression is from. (When it is certain, the term “Hebraism” or “Aramaism” is used.) See also “Hebraism”, “Semitic”. The equivalent for a Greek expression so translated is “Grecism”. Such expressions generally should not be put word-for-word into the receptor language (see “receptor language”), but changed to another expression that is equivalent in meaning. “Son of” when it refers to a quality or characteristic is a common Semiticism in the Greek New Testament. Some scholars use an alternate spelling, “Semitism”, instead of “Semiticism”.
Subjunctive: mood of the Greek verb that expresses action regarded as potential rather than real; it can express doubt, condition, a wish, etc. It is also used for exhortation or urging others to join in an action, to express prohibition, for making a strong denial, to express purpose, and to express result. The subjunctive is seldom used in English today, but is frequently used in Greek.
Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as opposed to the Gospel of John; sometimes these are called “The Synoptics” for short. The term is from the Greek syn, “with, together”, + optic, “seeing”, thus, “seeing together”. The term refers to the fact that Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain the same basic material, though with variations in the amount of detail, arrangement, and emphasis.
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