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Mark 14:41

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by Alcott, Mar 25, 2003.

  1. Alcott

    Alcott Well-Known Member
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    Mark 14:41 (KJV)-- And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

    In another thread I happened to run across this curiosity. The KJV has Jesus telling Peter, James, and John to "sleep on now and take your rest." Then He immediately says "it is enough," and then in v.42 He says "rise up; let us go." Did Jesus order them to do the opposite of what He really wanted/needed them to do? According to the KJV, it is either that, or else He was not speaking as the perfect Jesus, but as a tempermental nut who uses bitter irony.

    Almost all MV's have that term, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?"

    Which is correct?... Jesus ordering them to sleep (KJV), or asking them if they are still sleeping (MV's)?
     
  2. neal4christ

    neal4christ New Member

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    Contextually it seems more correct that Jesus is asking them a question. However, it looks like in the Greek He is giving them present imperative active commands, which to me would be closer to the KJV. So I am not sure. I haven't had Greek yet, and that is all I could gather from my Zodhiates CDROM! Hopefully someone else with more Greek knowledge will weigh in.

    Neal
     
  3. Harald

    Harald New Member

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    The verbs are all present indicatives, morphologically considered. The verb "sleep" is present active indicative, "take rest" is present middle indicative. Thus according to Friberg & Friberg in Analytical Greek Lexicon. They interpret both verbs as contextually being imperatives. Literally it could be rendered as follows (not following Friberg's interpretation):

    "Ye are falling asleep ( / sleeping) now, and refreshing yourselves.."

    To me it seems the Lord Jesus is somewhat reprovingly commenting on their failure to watch and pray.

    Harald
     
  4. Forever settled in heaven

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    it appears that KJB's translators were ahead of their times in terms understanding modern linguistic Pragmatics principles.

    under Pragmatics, the following wld mean the same thing:

    1. Shut the door!
    2. Would somebody like to shut the door?
    3. Ew, it's rather drafty here, wouldn't you say?
    4. I hope nobody's burning up.
    5. Turn up the heat!

    in various degrees of directness, these r ways of telling somebody to go shut the door to keep out the wind.
     
  5. Terry_Herrington

    Terry_Herrington New Member

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    This is just another instance where the MV's do a better job of communicating God's Word. [​IMG]
     
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