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LG1200-50
Spring 2009
Exercises for Week 6
Studying a Biblical Text
This week, you know enough Greek to work through the first few verses of the story of Jesus
turning water into wine at Cana.

Have your Greek/English Bible on hand for this exercise. If you did not buy one, you can
find the NET Bible notes within BibleWorks, or online at
http://net.bible.org/bible.php?book=Joh&chapter=2.

Sound out the place names in v. 1 and you’ll probably be able to figure out what they
are.

Use BibleWorks and/or your Greek/English Bible if you are not sure what a form or
vocabulary word is.
I have added notes and questions on every verse. Phrase the text, and then work through the
notes and questions.
Kai. th/| h`me,ra| th/| tri,th| ga,moj evge,neto evn Kana. th/j
Galilai,aj( kai. h=n h` mh,thr tou/ VIhsou/ evkei/\
2 evklh,qh de. kai. o` VIhsou/j kai. oi` maqhtai. auvtou/ eivj
to.n ga,monÅ
3 kai. u`sterh,santoj oi;nou le,gei h` mh,thr tou/ VIhsou/ pro.j
auvto,n\ oi=non ouvk e;cousinÅ
4 Îkai.Ð le,gei auvth/| o` VIhsou/j\ ti, evmoi. kai. soi,(
gu,naiÈ ou;pw h[kei h` w[ra mouÅ
(Joh 2:1-4 BNT)
1. Phrase the text. As you probably recall, these are the guidelines for phrasing that you
know so far. Split the sentence up at these points:




At or before conjunctions like kai.( de,( ga,r( avlla,) Remember that postpositives (Croy, §24) such as de, and ga,r are the second word in their clause.
Before o[ti or i[na)
Before prepositions.
Before commas or semicolons.
When you have finished phrasing, check your work on to the next page where I have phrased
the text.
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2. Translate the text.
Verse
1
Phrase
Kai. th/| h`me,ra| th/| tri,th|
ga,moj evge,neto
Notes & Questions
Is tri,th in attributive position or
predicate position?
Croy
Section
§30
What is tri,th describing?
write your translation here:
evn Kana. th/j Galilai,aj(
There are two place names here.
Sound them out & you’ll know them.
write your translation here:
kai. h=n h` mh,thr tou/ VIhsou/
evkei/\
There is a form of the verb “to be” here.
What is it?
§67
What is the subject of this clause?
write your translation here:
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evklh,qh de. kai. o` VIhsou/j
kai. oi` maqhtai. auvtou/
You know this verb, but you do not yet
know the form (aorist passive). Mouse
over the word in BW to see what it is
from. What is the dictionary form of
evklh,qh?
de. kai. looks odd, but is common
in the NT. Look at meaning 5.a for de.
in BDAG for help translating. (BDAG is a
lexicon in the Homelab version of
BibleWorks. The Gingrich lexicon, in all
copies of BW, is not as helpful but it
does mention the form in the entry for
de..)
write your translation here:
eivj to.n ga,monÅ
Name the object of the preposition
eivj and give that object’s case.
write your translation here:
3
kai. u`sterh,santoj oi;nou
Here is a construction you do not know.
It’s called a genitive absolute. You’ll
learn it when you learn participles.
§135
“And when the wine gave out”
le,gei h` mh,thr tou/ VIhsou/
pro.j auvto,n\
Is Jesus speaking here or his mother?
How do you know?
What is the pronoun auvto,n doing
here? Your choices are: (a) regular, (b)
emphatic, (c) intensive, (d) identical.
§51
What is the dictionary form of that
verb? What tense, voice, and mood is
§11
write your translation here
oi=non ouvk e;cousinÅ
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Verse
Phrase
Notes & Questions
Croy
Section
it?
write your translation here
4
auvth/| is feminine dative singular.
Îkai.Ð le,gei auvth/| o`
VIhsou/j\
§17
Why? What is its function in the
sentence?
Notice the tense of le,gei. The story
happened in the past, but the narrator
has shifted into the present to tell it. This
use of present tense is called the
historical present. It may be translated
as simple past.
write your translation here
ti, evmoi. kai. soi,( gu,naiÈ
Study the NET Bible note on this phrase.
Compare at least three translations at
this point and notice how widely varied
they are. Why?
write your translation here
h[kw is an odd verb in that it has a
perfect tense sounding meaning in the
present, “to have come.”
ou;pw h[kei h` w[ra mouÅ
write your translation here
Write out an English translation of these four verses that is faithful to the Greek and still flows well
in English.
3. Compare your translation with one published translation. Where are they the same? Where
are they different? Which do you like better?
My Translation
paste here
A Bible Version
paste here
4. Engage the text with questions like these:
Notice Characters
Who is present?
Comments on similarities and
differences
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Who speaks?
Who has a name?
Who doesn’t have a name?
Notice Time & Tense
What is past?
What is present?
What is future?
One Last Question:
Having read this far into the story, what do you expect to happen?