How to Interpret Biblical Greek Verbs (Part 5 of the Verbal Systems of the Biblical Languages)

Here’s a snapshot of what you can expect in this conversation:

• Overviews of tense, aspect, and Aktionsart in biblical Greek, and how these are reflected in biblical Greek verbal forms
• How to apply the semantics of these verbal forms to interpret specific verbs in actual biblical texts
• Why building intuitions about how biblical Greek works as a language is key for properly doing semantics

This is Part 5 of our series on The Verbal Systems of the Biblical Languages. Check out the other episodes in this series:

• Part 1: Tense, Aspect, and Modality with Nora Boneh
• Part 2: The Biblical Hebrew Verbal System with John Cook
• Part 3: The Biblical Greek Verbal System with Steve Runge
• Part 4: How to Interpret Biblical Hebrew Verbs

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Show notes

The following works are mentioned in this episode:

• “Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek” – Campbell

The following semanticists doing work in Ancient Greek are mentioned in this episode:

• Paul Kiparsky
• Corien Bary
• Von Stechow

The following biblical passages are discussed in this episode:

• Mark 1:11
  • Greek: καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν· σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα
  • English: ‘And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”’
    
• 1 Cor. 10:5
  • Greek: Αλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν αὐτῶν εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεός
  • English: ‘But with most of them, God was not pleased’
    
• James 1:11
  • Greek: ἀνέτειλεν γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος σὺν τῷ καύσωνι καὶ ἐξήρανεν τὸν χόρτον, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτοῦ ἐξέπεσεν, καὶ ἡ εὐπρέπεια τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἀπώλετο
  • English: ‘For the sun rises with its scorching heat and twithers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes.’
    
• Matt. 8:9
  • Greek: καὶ λέγω τούτῳ· πορεύθητι, καὶ πορεύεται, καὶ ἄλλῳ· ἔρχου, καὶ ἔρχεται, καὶ τῷ δούλῳ μου· ποίησον τοῦτο, καὶ ποιεῖ.
  • English: And I say to this one, “Go” and he goes, and to another “Come” and he comes and to my servant, “Do this” and he does.
    
• Matt. 14:29
  • Greek: ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· ἐλθέ. καὶ καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ πλοίου [ὁ] Πέτρος περιεπάτησεν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα καὶ ἦλθεν πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν.
  • English: ‘He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.’
    
• Mark 13:19
  • Greek: ἔσονται γὰρ αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι θλῖψις οἵα οὐ γέγονεν τοιαύτη ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως ἣν ἔκτισεν ὁ θεὸς ἕως τοῦ νῦν καὶ οὐ μὴ γένηται.
  • English: ‘For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.’
    
• Acts 6:11
  • Greek: τότε ὑπέβαλον ἄνδρας λέγοντας ὅτι ἀκηκόαμεν αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ῥήματα βλάσφημα εἰς Μωϋσῆν καὶ τὸν θεόν.
  • English: ‘Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”’
    
• Matt. 21:27
  • Greek: καὶ ἀποκριθέντες τῷ Ἰησοῦ εἶπαν· οὐκ οἴδαμεν. ἔφη αὐτοῖς καὶ αὐτός· οὐδὲ ἐγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ταῦτα ποιῶ.
  • English: ‘So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.’

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