Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17

Near the beginning of the month, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 21 September:

This was the Feast Day of St. Matthew, and the reading was Matthew 9:9-13.  Not too long before this, I'd read the parallel account in Mark 2:13-17.  I felt that something was off about the structure of "'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick'" (in verse 17), but it wasn't until hearing the same construction in Matthew (in verse 12) that I had some insight into it.

What had puzzled me is that there are some implied words in the second clause:  "Those who are sick [have need of a physician]."  I'd understood the meaning, of course; I simply hadn't understood what was going on in the grammar.

Consequently, I realized that such an ellipsis is significant.  In the same way that the phrase "those who are sick" requires the implied words in order to form a complete clause, the sick people need the treatment of a doctor in order to become healthy.

De toute

A number of times this year, I've found instances where my French New Testament adds "de toute" before every item in a list where there's only one modifier in the original Greek.

The first instance I found is in Ephesians 1:21:

au-dessus de toute domination, de toute autorité, de toute puissance, de toute dignité, et de tout nom qui se peut nommer, non seulement dans le siècles présent, mais encore dans le siècles à venir.

ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ κυριότητος καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι

Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

The French repeats the πάσης ("all") for each noun.  I'm not sure this is the best translation, but it does result in a stronger rhetorical effect that gives a sense of breadth or of number.

I found two other instances of this, both in Revelation.

Revelation 7:9:

Après cela, je regardai, et voici, il y avait une grand foule, que personne ne pouvait compter, de toute nation, de toute tribu, de tout peuple, et de toute langue.  Ils se tenaient devant le trône et devant l'agneau, revêtus de robes blanches, et des palmes dans leurs mains.

Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον καὶ ἰδοὺ ὄχλος πολὺς ὃν ἀριθμῆσαι αὐτὸν οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο ἐκ παντὸς ἔθνους καὶ φυλῶν καὶ λαῶν καὶ γλωσσῶν ἑστῶτες ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου, περιβεβλημένους στολὰς λευκὰς καὶ φοίνικες ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτῶν.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands

Here, παντὸς ("every") is repeated.

Revelation 14:6

Je vis une autre ange qui volait par le milieu du ciel, ayant un Évangile éternal, pour l'annoncer aux habitants de la terre, à toute nation, à toute tribu, à toute langue, et à tout peuple.

Καὶ εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον πετόμενον ἐν μεσουρανήματι ἔχοντα εὐαγγέλιον αἰώνιον εὐαγγελίσαι ἐπὶ τοὺς καθημένους ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶν ἔθνος καὶ φυλὴν καὶ γλῶσσαν καὶ λαὸν

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

Here, πᾶν ("every") is repeated.

On Every High Hill and under Every Green Tree

I read some chapters of 1 Kings a couple weeks ago (after seeing a citation of 1 Kings 11:3 in my edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales), and I came across the phrase "on every high hill and under every green tree" in 1 Kings 14:23.  A couple years ago, I'd run across a somewhat expanded version of this phrase in Ezekiel 6:13 ("on every high hill, on all the mountain-tops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols").  At the time, I knew this sounded familiar, and I eventually found what I was thinking of, in Jeremiah 2:20:  "on every high hill and under every green tree."

These constructions may not fit a strict definition of a merism, but the nearly opposite senses of "high" and "under" do provide a sense of breadth.  This is also indicated more clearly by "wherever" in the verse in Ezekiel.

At the time, I didn't consider this significant enough to write about, but since I found a third occurrence of this phrase, I thought I would note it.

Amos 4:6-11

I followed along in the Daily Dose of Hebrew's series on Amos in its original run (from September 2017 to August 2018), but in August this year, I started going through it again.  This time, I'm copying out the verses.

A couple weeks ago, I watched the videos for Amos 4:7, and I noticed a small feature in the middle part of the verse, covered in the second video:

וְהִמְטַרְתִּי עַל־עִיר אֶחָת וְעַל־עִיר אַחַת לֹא אַמְטִיר

In the ESV, this is translated as "I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city."  The word order between the Hebrew clauses, however, is inverted so that it's more like:  "I would send rain on one city, and on another city I would send no rain."  That the structure is flipt from one clause to the other illustrates these opposites.

As I continued on in transcribing verses, I noticed that this section of Amos exhibits epistrophe.

6 "I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

7 "I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; 8 so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

9 "I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

10 "I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

11 "I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

Each of these sections ends with "'yet you did not return to me,' declares the LORD."  I thought of three functions that the epistrophe has here.  In its most basic function, it illustrates simply the people's persistence in not returning.

It also illustrates an escalation.  After God's various actions, the response of not returning is the same, so in a way, this refrain of "'yet you did not return to me,' declares the LORD" acts as a measuring stick of all that God has done to get His people to return.

This epistrophe could even function as an example for the people.  In the same way that God keeps coming back to this same phrase, the people ought to return to Him.  It's as if He's demonstrating what to do even in the manner in which He describes how the people haven't done it.