Matthew 22:34-46
22:34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
22:35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
22:36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
22:37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
22:38 This is the greatest and first commandment.
22:39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
22:41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question:
22:42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
22:43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
22:44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”‘?
22:45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”
22:46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
St Matthew 22: 34-46
| 34 Οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι ἀκούσαντες ὅτι ἐφίμωσε τοὺς Σαδδουκαίους, συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, 35 καὶ ἐπηρώτησεν εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν, νομικός, πειράζων αὐτὸν καὶ λέγων· 36 διδάσκαλε, ποία ἐντολὴ μεγάλη ἐν τῷ νόμῳ; 37 Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἔφη αὐτῷ· ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ σου. 38 Αὕτη ἐστὶ πρώτη καὶ μεγάλη ἐντολή. 39 Δευτέρα δὲ ὁμοία αὐτῇ· ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν. 40 Ἐν ταύταις ταῖς δυσὶν ἐντολαῖς ὅλος ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται κρέμανται. 41 Συνηγμένων δὲ τῶν Φαρισαίων ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦς 42 λέγων· τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ; τίνος υἱός ἐστι; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· τοῦ Δαυῒδ. 43 Λέγει αὐτοῖς· πῶς οὖν Δαυῒδ ἐν Πνεύματι Κύριον αὐτὸν καλεῖ λέγων, 44 εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος τῷ Κυρίῳ μου, κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου; 45 Εἰ οὖν Δαυὶδ καλεῖ αὐτὸν Κύριον, πῶς υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἐστι; 46 Καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο αὐτῷ ἀποκριθῆναι λόγον, οὐδὲ ἐτόλμησέ τις ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνης τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπερωτῆσαι αὐτὸν οὐκέτι. |
Comments
The Greek is pretty straightforward. The English tr. slightly differs from the Greek text in certain miniscule points.
[34] ἐφίμωσε: φιμῶ (όω), lit., ‘I muzzle’ (LXX, also in NT); fig., ‘to silence’, as here (see LSJ & EDNT, s.v.).
ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό: ‘on the same spot or place’.
[35] ἐπηρώτησεν: ἐπερωτῶ (άω), the cmpd vb is used abs. here; thus construed in cl. Gk , it is a parliamentary term (‘I put a proposal to the vote’). In Matthew the ‘vb. always has adversarial connotation, of a judicial investigation’ (EDNT s.v., p. 21). This aspect is confirmed by the phrase πειράζων αὐτὸν: πειράζω c. acc. pers., ‘I try, tempt a person, put him to the test’ (LXX, NT). See LSJ & EDNT s.v.
[36] ποία ἐντολὴ μεγάλη: ‘which commandment is great (or principal)?’ The interrogative ποία (orig., ‘of what kind’) is an adj. here. Cf. 38.
[38] Αὕτη ἐστὶ πρώτη καὶ μεγάλη ἐντολή: the definite article ἡ is omitted (this has puzzled some) because the substantive ἐντολή (‘commandment’) is in the predicate.
[40] ὅλος ὁ νόμος: ὅλος, ‘whole, entire, complete in its parts’, of persons and things (already Homer, cl. Gk poetry & prose). ‘Complete in its parts’ well suits the comprehensive Mosaic Law.
οἱ προφῆται κρέμανται: < κρεμάννυμαι. κρέμαμαι, pass., ‘I am suspended, hang’ (already in Homer & cl. Gk poetry & prose). According to Harrington op. cit., 315, ‘the image is that of a large mass suspended by means of two ropes or hairs’, and depends on the Hebrew tala.
[44] ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου: θῶ < 1st pers. sg. aor. subj., τίθημι, ‘I place, set’; here the vb means ‘I make, render’. ὑποπόδιον, τό, ‘footstool’ (first attested in 4th c. BC & LXX). τῶν ποδῶν σου: ‘of your feet’, is redundant, strictly speaking (‘a footstool of your feet’).
[46] ἀποκριθῆναι λόγον: ἀποκρίνομαι, mid., ‘I answer’; in cl. Gk, as here, the vb can be construed with an internal acc. (LSJ s.v.). Thus ‘to answer a word’.
οὐκέτι: the negative adv. ‘no longer’ is the final word, lending emphasis to the negation.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 