Sunday, August 13, 2023

Matthew 28:20

A couple months ago, the Gospel reading on Worship Anew was Matthew 28:16-20.  I was following along in the Latin Vulgate and noticed the same feature that I saw in Psalm 23 shortly before this.  In verse 20, Jesus says, "ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus" ("Behold, I am with you in all days").  Because the Latin prepositional phrase "cum vobis" ("with you") is often inverted and combined into a single word ("vobiscum"), the two pronouns are directly next to each other:  "ego vobiscum" ("I you-with").  This proximity provides a greater sense of accompaniment.