Originally posted by Obsidian
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You would like to understand Rev 22,17-18 in the following way:
Originally posted by Obsidian
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17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.
And let him that heareth say, Come.
And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
If any man shall add (any conditions) unto these things (ie, the water of life, which render it less free),
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἡ νύμφη λέγουσιν, ἔρχου.
καὶ ὁ ἀκούων εἰπάτω, ἔρχου.
καὶ ὁ διψῶν ἐρχέσθω, ὁ θέλων λαβέτω ὕδωρ ζωῆς δωρεάν.
Μαρτυρῶ ἐγὼ παντὶ τῷ ἀκούοντι τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου,
ἐάν τις ἐπιθῇ ἐπ᾽ αὐτά,
ἐπιθήσει ὁ θεὸς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν τὰς πληγὰς τὰς γεγραμμένας ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ,
καὶ ἐάν τις ἀφέλῃ ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τοῦ βιβλίου τῆς προφητείας ταύτης,
ἀφελεῖ ὁ θεὸς τὸ μέρος αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς καὶ ἐκ τῆς πόλεως τῆς ἁγίας τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τούτῳ.
The first difficulty with Obsidian’s interpretation is that it takes ‘unto these things’ (ἐπ᾽ αὐτά) as referring to ‘water of life freely’ (ὕδωρ ζωῆς δωρεάν), but that is not possible in Greek because αὐτά is plural and therefore does not refer back to ὕδωρ ζωῆς, which is singular.
So to what does αὐτά refer? Following the Latin, Wycliffe, Tyndale, and King James (all directly or indirectly at least partly dependent upon the Latin) translated this word well as a demonstrative pronoun, ‘these things’, while more modern English versions more mechanically translate it as a personal pronoun, ‘them’. It is true that the αὐτά is indeed technically, mechanically a personal pronoun, but it is also true that in Greek the personal pronoun can carry the force of a demonstrative pronoun, as it does here. I’ll explain why subsequently. The real problem with the English is that since ‘them’ can be either masculine, feminine, both, or neuter, and since ‘these things’ is neuter in English, it will be assumed by most readers to refer back to ‘the words of the prophecy of this book’, and ‘the words’ like all other common nouns in English is neither masculine nor feminine and therefore most people just think of ‘words’ as neuter.
The earlier Latin fostered this misunderstanding because ‘verba’ is neuter plural and ‘haec’ can be a neuter plural accusative (it can also be feminine singular nominative neuter plural nominative):
contestor ego omni audienti verba prophetiae libri huius si quis adposuerit ad haec adponet Deus super illum plagas scriptas in libro isto
Martin Luther’s German, by the way, is no better: dazu.
So, getting back to the Greek, what does the neuter plural accusative αὐτά refer to and why should we attribute to it a demonstrative sense?
Noting the importance of context, αὐτά in the Greek clearly refers back to ταῦτα (these things) in Rev 22,8bis.16. See also ταῦτα in 22.20. All are neuter plural accusative pronouns. ταῦτα is a demonstrative pronoun and αὐτά easily takes on the added force of a demonstrative, giving emphatic prominence, especially when used in summary fashion (cf Thayer) to ‘all’ these things written about and signified in the prophecy of this book.
Κἀγὼ Ἰωάννης ὁ ἀκούων καὶ βλέπων ταῦτα. καὶ ὅτε ἤκουσα καὶ ἔβλεψα, ἔπεσα προσκυνῆσαι ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ποδῶν τοῦ ἀγγέλου τοῦ δεικνύοντός μοι ταῦτα.
I, John, (am) the one hearing and seeing these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel showing me these things.
Ἐγὼ Ἰησοῦς ἔπεμψα τὸν ἄγγελόν μου μαρτυρῆσαι ὑμῖν ταῦτα ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις.
I, Jesus, sent my angel to you to witness to you concerning these things to the churches.
- Note the reference back to the first part of the book
Λέγει ὁ μαρτυρῶν ταῦτα, ναί, ἔρχομαι ταχύ. Ἀμήν, ἔρχου κύριε Ἰησοῦ.
The one testifying concerning these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen, come, Lord Jesus.
The sense is that these things prophecied in the book of Revelation are real. If you try to add to them, they will bite you. God will send down the plagues on you. These are not the type of things that one should change. It is sort of like a prophetic threat.
But the normal English is not so bad because it is practically implied by the parallelism between 22,18 and 19:
…. ἐάν τις ἐπιθῇ . ἐπ᾽ αὐτά,
καὶ ἐάν τις ἀφέλῃ ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τοῦ βιβλίου τῆς προφητείας ταύτης
If any man shall add ................. unto these things
And if any man shall take away... from the .. words of the book of this prophecy
‘These things’, although neuter in Greek, are indeed placed parallel with ‘the (masculine) words of the book of this prophecy’. Why place these things in parallel if ‘these things’ cannot refer directly to ‘the words’. Because the words of prophecy are as real as the things prophesied. Do not add to these things and do not subtract from the prophetic words. Obviously, a scribe should not add to these things as written in the book or take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, but the prophetic threat is more all-encompassing than just an admonition regarding scribal practice. The person speaking in 22,18 could be John, or it could be the angel witnessing to these things. Take another look at 22,8.16 (above): John is the one hearing these things and the angel is one witnessing to these things. Likewise in 22,18 John may be thought of as one of every one hearing the words of the prophecy of this book dictated by the angel. But it is also quite possible that Jesus is the one speaking in 22,18. It is not always clear whether or when Jesus, the angel, or John is speaking. John is a prophet (22,9); he speaks for God, the words he hears from the angel, who seems also to appear as Jesus. Such is the authority of this book. Don’t add to it, don’t take away from it.
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