8.52 Exercises

The following notes should help you in understanding the Practice Sentences provided by Croy. You might also find it very helpful to look at a Segmented Version of the sentences. In fact, to encourage you to make use of the Segmented Version, the audio for these sentences has been prepared using the segmented text.

1. ὁ θεὸς ἀποστέλλει τοῦτον τὸν προφήτην εἰς τὸν λαόν.

Notice the construction: τοῦτον τὸν προφήτην. These three words correspond to the English phrase "this prophet".

2. ἡμεῖς ἔχομεν ἐξουσίαν βαπτίζειν, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἔχετε ἐξουσίαν κρίνειν ἡμᾶς.

Normally nominative pronouns are not included in Greek, because you can already tell the subjects from the verbs themselves ( ἔχομεν is first person plural, and ἔχετε is second person plural). In this sentence, however, there is a strong opposition between ἡμεῖς on the one hand and ὑμεῖς on the other hand. The nominative pronouns are used to emphasize this contrast between "we" and "you," with the postpositive δὲ calling attention to that contrast.

3. ἔχομεν τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν αὐτὴν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ προφήτης γινώσκει τοῦτο.

Make sure you understand the construction τὴν ἀγάπην τὴν αὐτὴν. This is the "identical" use of αὐτός, and can be translated as "the same love." The construction αὐτὸς ὁ προφήτης is the "intensive" use of αὐτός, meaning "the prophet himself." It is very important that you be able to recognize these two different uses of αὐτός - the identical use, and the intensive use.

4. τὰ τέκνα τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης οὐχ εὑρίσκουσιν τὴν εἰρήνην ὅτι ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ ἐστι κακή.

Notice that the neuter plural τέκνα here takes a plural verb. Sometimes a plural neuter noun will take a plural verb in Biblical Greek, and other times it will take a singular.

5. ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ὁ κύριος πέμπει τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόσμον εὑρίσκειν τὴν ἁγίαν ἀδελφήν.

The Greek infinitive functions here like the infinitive does in English, expressing purpose: εὑρίσκειν can be translated as "(in order) to find".

6. οὑτως λέγει ὁ κύριος, Ἐγείρω άγγελον θανάτου διὰ τοὺς κακοὺς ἀλλὰ πέμπω ζωὴν τοῖς πιστοῖς.

Notice that οὑτως ends in omega-sigma. This is the clue that tells you it is an adverb - it is not the pronoun οὗτος. Although adverbs take many different forms in Greek, this -ως ending is typical of adverbs.

7. ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸς ἐγείρει τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ οἱ ὄχλοι τῆς γῆς ἀκούουσι τὴν αὐτὴν φωνὴν.

You see both uses of αὐτὸς in this sentence, one "intensive" use and one "identical" use. Make sure you understand which is which. Is ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸς intensive or identical? Is τὴν αὐτὴν φωνὴν intensive or identical?

8. ἀποστέλλω τούτους τοὺς μαθητὰς βαπτίζειν τὰ τέκνα τὰ μικρά.

The Greek infinitive functions here like the infinitive does in English, expressing purpose: βαπτίζειν can be translated as "(in order) to baptize".

9. οὐ βλέπετε ἡμᾶς πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον ἀλλὰ γράφετε τοὺς λόγους τούτους ἡμῖν.

The phrase πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον is an adverbial phrase which you can translate as "face to face."

10. διδάσκομεν καὶ πιστεύομεν τὰ αὐτά, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ οὐ μένουσιν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῆς ἀληθείας.

Is the phrase τὰ αὐτά an example of the intensive or the identical use of αὐτὸς? Notice how the postpositive particle δὲ follows the ἐκεῖνοι, but you must still read ἐκεῖνοι δὲ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ as a single phrase. It is not uncommon for a postpositive particle like δὲ to be placed after the first word in an extended phrase.

11. οὗτος ὁ κόσμος μένει εν ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἡμεῖς δὲ βλέπομεν τὴν δόξαν ἄλλου κόσμου ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.

Normally nominative pronouns are not included in Greek, because you can already tell the subjects from the verbs themselves ( βλέπομεν is first person plural). In this sentence, however, there is a strong opposition between ἡμεῖς on the one hand and everybody else in the world, οὗτος ὁ κόσμος. The nominative pronoun is used used to emphasize this contrast between "we" and "everybody else ," with the postpositive δὲ calling attention to that contrast.

12. δίκαιος ὁ κύριος· κρίνει οὖν τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκείνην κατὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν.

Here you see the postpositive particle οὖν being used to give some precision to the preceding sentence. A good way to think about the particle οὖν is that it conveys the same sense as the English comment, "as a matter of fact..."

13. οὐ θέλετε ἀκούειν ἡμῶν τῆς φωνῆς· ἡμεῖς οὖν λέγομεν τούτους τοὺς λόγους ἄλλοις.

Notice that the genitive pronoun used for possession can either precede or follow its noun. In this sentence, the genitive pronoun ἡμῶν precedes the noun φωνῆς.

14. γινώσκομεν τὴν εἰρήνην τοῦ θεοῦ· ἐσθίομεν οὖν τὸν αὐτὸν ἄρτον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ οἴκῳ.

Are the phases τὸν αὐτὸν ἄρτον and τῷ αὐτῷ οἴκῳ an example of the intensive or the identical use of αὐτὸς?