Acts 1:20: A hapax legomenon, and the etymology of the English words 'Episcopal', and 'Bible'

So far we have focused on the verbs in Acts 1:20.  We'll take a look now at a few of the nouns.

Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν βίβλῳ Ψαλμῶν, Γενηθήτω ἡ ἔπαυλις αὐτοῦ ἔρημος, καὶ μὴ ἔστω ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν αὐτῇ· καί, Tὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ λαβέτω / λάβοι ἕτερος.

“For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his position.’ 

 

1  ἡ ἔπαυλις, 'habitation, farm, estate', is the hapax legomenon.  

2  ἡ ἐπισκοπήν, 'an overseeing', 'inspection'.  Derived from the preposition ἐπί ('on, upon') and the verb σκοπέω ('I look at, look over, consider').  Latin has episcopus for 'bishop', which is related to the Greek ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, 'overseer'.  From bishop, then, we get the episcopate, and the Episcopal Church.  

3  ἡ βίβλος:  The English 'bible' is, of course, related to this word.  In ancient and New Testament Greek, however, it means 'book' or 'scroll'.  

The derivation is via the papyrus plant, which provided paper for early scrolls and books: one of the ancient names for papyrus is ἡ βύβλος; the other is πάπυρος.  The word 'πάπυρος' is found in the Septuagint, although not in the New Testament.

Acts 1:20: Third-person imperatives

In English we commonly use imperatives in the second person, and there is no distinction between a 2-S and a 2-P imperative.  Thus,

Come here!

Watch out for that car!

could be applied to either one or several people.  In addition, English imperatives have no special morphology.  I.e., 'drink' can equally serve as an indicative 

I / We/ You/ They/ drink milk with tea.

or an imperative.

Drink your milk!

English can tell a third person to do something

        Let them eat cake.  

        May God have mercy on your soul.

but a helping word ('let', 'may') is required, and I would argue that third-person

Acts 1:20; when is a perfect a present?

Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν βίβλῳ Ψαλμῶν, Γενηθήτω ἡ ἔπαυλις αὐτοῦ ἔρημος, καὶ μὴ ἔστω ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν αὐτῇ· καί, Tὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ λαβέτω / λάβοι ἕτερος.

“For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his position.’

There are several phrases in this verse which are conventionally introduced with a capital letter, indicating direct speech.  Who is speaking?  Presumably (1) Peter, from Acts 1:15.  A few English translations include his name ('Peter said . . . ') to make this clear, but it isn't in the Greek.

But also (2) the Psalmist, who is being quoted by Peter in the phrases beginning 'Γενηθήτω . . . ', and 'Τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν . . . '.

Γέγραπται - parsed as 3-S, perfect middle/passive indicative, γράφω, 'I write' - is used about 65 times in the New Testament.  It is the most common form of this

Acts 1:1, read in Greek

This is a bit of a trial run.  I am reading Acts 1:1 in a modern Greek accent. Click below for the link.  The recording was done with Audacity.

Acts 1:1 

Acts 1:19, continued: what is the subject of κληθῆναι?

 Here's the verse again:

καὶ γνωστὸν ἐγένετο πᾶσιν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὥστε κληθῆναι τὸ χωρίον ἐκεῖνο τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ αὐτῶν Ἀκελδαμά, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν, χωρίον αἵματος―

and known it became to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own dialect 'Akeldama', which is, field of blood -  

Let's start with the one non-Greek proper noun, spelled either Ἀκελδαμά or Ἀκελδαμάχ, or those spellings with the rough breathing instead of the smooth.  

The name derives from Aramaic, which was a Syrian dialect.  (Or as I understand it; check Wikipedia for an extensive discussion of this group of languages.)  If the

Acts 1:19, continued: Why is the NT word for 'Jerusalem' sometimes feminine singular and sometimes neuter plural?

Let's begin with our conclusion: it's just one of those language things.

Various koine Greek sites have included discussions on this point (see, for example, here and here; there are others).  What seems to be clear is that yes, there are two forms of the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word for Jerusalem.

One is always feminine, singular, and indeclinable, i.e., as found in Acts 1:19, and spelled Ἱερουσαλήμ (note the rough breathing).

The second is always neuter, plural, and declined according to grammatical function.  In Mark 3:22, for example, we see the genitive plural form after the preposition ἀπό:

καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων καταβάντες ἔλεγον

and the scribes (the ones) who had come down from Jerusalem were saying

The two forms are found in very approximately equal numbers in the New Testament.  There is discussion about possible nuances of meaning between the two, but I do not see a clear consensus.

Why would there be a feminine form for Jerusalem?  In Hebrew (as I understand it, and let the reader beware) cities are feminine; that is, their names are considered feminine proper nouns.  And in Greek, the word for 'city' itself is feminine: ἡ πόλη.

What about the neuter plural form?  For this, all I can say is that ancient Greek did have a number of plural-named cities, notably Athens - αἱ Ἀθῆνα - and Thebes - αἱ Θῆβαι.  However, these plurals are feminine.

It may very well be a tendency from Hebrew, but on that I am able to say no more.

Acts 1:19; the adjective πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν

To review what has just happened;  Judas has obtained or purchased a field, and has died there, in an apparently harrowing manner.

καὶ γνωστὸν ἐγένετο πᾶσιν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὥστε κληθῆναι τὸ χωρίον ἐκεῖνο τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ αὐτῶν Ἀκελδαμά, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν, χωρίον αἵματος―

and known it became to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own dialect 'Akeldama', which is, field of blood -  

The first phrase is

καὶ γνωστὸν ἐγένετο πᾶσιν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἱερουσαλήμ

The verb form ἐγένετο is parsed as 3-S, aorist middle indicative, of γίνομαι, 'I become, happen'.  Here the subject must be understood as referring to an event in the previous verse, i.e., 'the thing that happened, Judas's death'.

So Judas's death became known - to whom?  The 'to' leads to a dative, and in this case it is plural: to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Note the somewhat irregular, third-declension conjugation of the adjective πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν, 'all, every, whole':

                                     Masculine         Feminine         Neuter 

Singular 

    Nom.                         πᾶς                     πᾶσα                 πᾶν 

    Gen.                           πάντος              πάσης                πάντος 

    Dat.                            παντί                 πάσῃ                  παντί

    Acc.                            πάντα               πᾶσαν                πᾶν  

Plural 

    Nom.                         πάντες               πᾶσαι                πάντα 

    Gen.                           πάντων             πασῶν               πάντων 

    Dat.                            πᾶσι(ν)              πάσαις               πᾶσι(ν)

    Acc.                            πάντας              πάσας                πάντα 

Remember that 

(1) all neuter nominative forms are identical to the corresponding (singular or plural) form,

(2) the masculine singular accusative form is identical to the neuter plural nominative/accusative form, and

(3) the masculine and neuter forms are identical in the genitive and dative, both singular and plural.

Ἱερουσαλήμ is understood to be in the genitive case here ('the inhabitants of Jerusalem'), although this word is indeclinable.  We'll look at the two Greek versions of the city name in the next post, followed by a discussion of the remainder of the verse.