Is there some one who knows about a resource, which deals about conjunctions in the Bible?

Tes
Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

As I am observing my lessons in the Bible one of my favorites is to see the structure of the Bible,the connecting words ,the conjunctions,specially ,the difficulty I face is for eg. the word "for" I find it difficult to know, whether it is reason,or explanation ,I like the "The Lexham Clausal Outlines of the Greek New Testament" for other words,but I am interested as well ,about a resource which it could be more helpful in my studies  in this issue.

Blessings in Christ.

Comments

  • Mathew Voth
    Mathew Voth Member Posts: 287 ✭✭

    If you have Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, it includes helpful summaries of how conjunctions are used, and lists the various possibilities. Other grammars will do likewise. All the best!

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭

    If you have Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, it includes helpful summaries of how conjunctions are used, and lists the various possibilities. Other grammars will do likewise. All the best!

    Hi, Mathew , I have no idea about the Greek language I am looking for English resource.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Mathew Voth
    Mathew Voth Member Posts: 287 ✭✭

    Hey Tes,

    Sorry that was not helpful for you (I just assumed based on your use of the Lexam Greek Bible that you might be familiar with the language). I am not aware of another way of going about this, because basically one needs to understand the Greek syntax behind the translation to know what it really meant. Using a translation, I would imagine that the only way to know for sure would be to ask the translator themself.

    Do you have the UBS Bible Handbooks? They give great info on the choices translators made in translating our Bibles.

    Blessings, Matt

  • TCBlack
    TCBlack Member Posts: 10,980 ✭✭✭

    Do you have the UBS Bible Handbooks? They give great info on the choices translators made in translating our Bibles.

    [y] I agree a good technical commentary would also be of benefit.

    Hmm Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 

  • Daniel R. Smith
    Daniel R. Smith Member Posts: 82 ✭✭

    Most of this information is from the WEB. Some of it is from other, hard copy resources.  2465.Conjunction Rules.doc

     

    I would suggest Grammar by Diagram, a great book for learning how English grammar AND diagramming!

    May the Lord bless you and keep you.

  • Ron Corbett
    Ron Corbett Member Posts: 860 ✭✭✭

    Tes,

    I would use the interlinears. [And find some free internet sites to learn the Greek alphabet.] From there I would vote for the Lexham SGNT: Expansions and Annotations: SGNT Notes.

    If you start to use these and go word by word through a short passage day after day - looking up the meanings of the labels under the Syntactic Force section, you will find much help.

  • Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament has sentences diagrammed along with being an interlinear - options to display information below greek words - concur with George about not showing English literal translation - displaying Louw-Nida domain numbers provides pop-up paragraphs with English insights (including conjuctions).

    Observation: Greek New Testament Insert resource does not mention conjunctions (does summarize many greek language elements).

    Keep Smiling [:)]

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭

    a good technical commentary would also be of benefi

    t

    HI,Thomas, are you aware of any commentary which might be helpful for me.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • TCBlack
    TCBlack Member Posts: 10,980 ✭✭✭

    Tes said:

    a good technical commentary would also be of benefi

    t

    HI,Thomas, are you aware of any commentary which might be helpful for me.

    Tes, I do not know of any aside from the prior mentioned UBS handbooks which will be language/translation oriented - however certain commentaries have a reputation for a high level of technical linguistic discussion.  I know that you are currently studying Romans - and I cannot recommend highly enough the ICC commentaries by Cranfield.    Additionally the Word Biblical Commentaries (WBC) are generally good as are the New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC) are language focused.

    Unfortunately all of these are embedded deep inside large collections for the most part - thus requiring a large outlay.  Also there is no guarantee that they will deal with a conjunction you are studying - so that a collection of said commentaries becomes helpful.

    Otherwise I echo some of the above sentiments that you at least learn the Greek Alphabet and begin interacting on a base level with the language.  Just be aware (as I'm sure you already are) that first and second year scholars are better equipped to make mistakes than discoveries.

    Hmm Sarcasm is my love language. Obviously I love you. 

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭


    Tes said:

    a good technical commentary would also be of benefi

    t

    HI,Thomas, are you aware of any commentary which might be helpful for me.

    Tes, I do not know of any aside from the prior mentioned UBS handbooks which will be language/translation oriented - however certain commentaries have a reputation for a high level of technical linguistic discussion.  I know that you are currently studying Romans - and I cannot recommend highly enough the ICC commentaries by Cranfield.    Additionally the Word Biblical Commentaries (WBC) are generally good as are the New International Greek Testament Commentary (NIGTC) are language focused.

    Unfortunately all of these are embedded deep inside large collections for the most part - thus requiring a large outlay.  Also there is no guarantee that they will deal with a conjunction you are studying - so that a collection of said commentaries becomes helpful.

    Otherwise I echo some of the above sentiments that you at least learn the Greek Alphabet and begin interacting on a base level with the language.  Just be aware (as I'm sure you already are) that first and second year scholars are better equipped to make mistakes than discoveries.


     

    Thank you you Thomas for your comments and recommedationI need some on to introduce me be able .to learn the Greek Alpahabet and interacting on a base level  with the language ,If some takes time for me in this case ,perhaps I may be encouraged .

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Mathew Voth
    Mathew Voth Member Posts: 287 ✭✭

    Hey Tes,

    I would encourage you to pick up a beginners Greek text, and go from there. I taught myself how to read Greek, and it really was not that difficult. Make flash cards of the letters, and go through them until you can recognize them at a glance, and can say the alphabet quickly. Then start looking at some of the more frequent words and sounding them out.

    Be brave! Blessings, Matt

  • Milford Charles Murray
    Milford Charles Murray Member Posts: 5,004 ✭✭✭

    Hi Tes!           *smile*

    Here's how to learn the Greek Alphabet in 10 minutes!          *smile*

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gUfuWoHJA

    Actually, it looks like many, many Greek Learning modules on YouTube.com

    You might want to experiment a wee bit!

    Peace to you!                                   And!                    Joy in the Lord!

    Philippians 4:  4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand..........

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭


    Hi Tes!           *smile*

    Here's how to learn the Greek Alphabet in 10 minutes!          *smile*

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gUfuWoHJA

    Actually, it looks like many, many Greek Learning modules on YouTube.com

    You might want to experiment a wee bit!

    Peace to you!                                   And!                    Joy in the Lord!


    Thank you all and thank you brother Milford, I hope this is going to help me.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Frank Fenby
    Frank Fenby Member Posts: 350 ✭✭

    Tes said:

    As I am observing my lessons in the Bible one of my favorites is to see the structure of the Bible,the connecting words

    Tes I have a table in Microsoft Word that deals with just this sort of thing. Email me and I will send you a copy. [ffenby (at) edifymin (dot) org] When I had it on the web one time  a young man in Pakistan found it and used it to get a good grade in his English class. We have communicated ever since.

    I have worked on building some visual filters for this sort of stuff, but it still needs to be refined. They work using the Greek morphology codes and custom highlighting. The results however display in the English Bible text or any text that has the Logos Greek morphology codes. Below is a sample from John  and part of the visual filter I built. The text here is the NAS95.

    Here is part of John 3

    image

     Here is a sample of the visual filter. For these to make sense you almost need to furn the interlinear footer on.

    image

    I don't know if this will help

     

  • Clifford B. Kvidahl
    Clifford B. Kvidahl Member Posts: 235 ✭✭

    I would recommend reading through Steve Runge's "Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis." He has a chapter in there that deal specifically with the use of conjunctions and their discourse features. I cannot recommend it higher! It is an excellent work.

    There are works that deal with conjunctions, Margaret Thrall has a work on Greek Particles, and I know there are a few other monographs as well. There is a work called "Sentence Conjunction in the Gospel of Matthew" that is insightful as well.

  • George Somsel
    George Somsel Member Posts: 10,150 ✭✭✭

    Tes said:


    As I am observing my lessons in the Bible one of my favorites is to see the structure of the Bible,the connecting words ,the conjunctions,specially ,the difficulty I face is for eg. the word "for" I find it difficult to know, whether it is reason,or explanation ,I like the "The Lexham Clausal Outlines of the Greek New Testament" for other words,but I am interested as well ,about a resource which it could be more helpful in my studies  in this issue.


    I would suggest that you get a copy of Steve Runge's discourse grammar

    Runge, Steven E. A Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2010.

    It is very definitely about Greek, but whether you wish to study Greek or not something like this is exactly what you need to answer such questions.

    george
    gfsomsel

    יְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭

    Most of this information is from the WEB. Some of it is from other, hard copy resources.  2465.Conjunction Rules.doc

     

    I would suggest Grammar by Diagram, a great book for learning how English grammar AND diagramming!

    Thank you brother Daniel. My  problem is to be able to identify in a given sentence or phrase , what that word represents.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • Rich DeRuiter
    Rich DeRuiter MVP Posts: 6,729

    Tes said:

    As I am observing my lessons in the Bible one of my favorites is to see the structure of the Bible,the connecting words ,the conjunctions,specially ,the difficulty I face is for eg. the word "for" I find it difficult to know, whether it is reason,or explanation ,I like the "The Lexham Clausal Outlines of the Greek New Testament" for other words,but I am interested as well ,about a resource which it could be more helpful in my studies  in this issue.

    Tes, in addition to all the great other suggestions here (including dabbling in Greek/Hebrew, consulting commentaries, etc.), I'd like to make another suggestion based on my own experience. While learning
    Spanish I often read a Spanish Bible and found I benefited both spiritually and as a language
    learner. In fact I often still read my preaching/teaching text in Spanish in addition to English, and often find it invaluable (since, e.g., Spanish distinguishes between a singular and plural 'you' and has a genuine subjunctive).

    As you know more than one language (I am correct in remembering that, am I not?), I'd encourage you to read a passage in English and then in your native language Bible, along with Bibles in other languages you know. This can also help you compare how certain phrases with these conjunctions (like 'for') are handled in other languages, and inform your reading of the English text.

    Another suggestion, is to read the text in multiple English versions. I'd suggest a very literal translation (like the Lexham English Bible, for the New Testament), a close literal (like the ESV or the RSV/NRSV), a dynamic equivalent (like the NIV), and a looser translation (like the NLT). Comparing may show you enough to answer your question about how these conjunctions work.

    Regarding the use of the English word "for" there is often no way to distinguish reason, cause, explanation, etc., even in context. In fact, it's something that we English speakers have to look at and consider as well (but often don't!). Even the Greek/Hebrew text can be ambiguous on some of these points (even when the translated text is not!). In an inductive Bible study, I may simply ask the participants to consider multiple ways of handling the ambiguity. An honest student of the Bible simply cannot resolve all these issues (IMHO), but considering alternatives can be a helpful exercise.

     Help links: WIKI;  Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)

  • Tes
    Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭

    Richard, I am able to read the text in four languages,but you know all are translations, I need more than to understand the idea, most of my strugle is with "for" I have less problem with othrs such as purpose and result, becasue I can evaluate them from the meaning they give to that particular passage,but as "for" is some times reason,since,explanation and so on,so for me it is not possible to identify it easily ,I see many times the Greek word "γάρ" I feel it is ambiguous ,it doesn't give me specific meaning. I don't know if I am wrong ,for me the conjuctions are just like key words to be able to  understand the connection betwen the previous and the next sentence.

    Blessings in Christ.

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 612 ✭✭

    Tes:  have you looked at the SGNT Synatx Notes? (The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament Expansions and Annotations) 
     

    Here is an entry for John 3:16:

     

     

    γὰρ (LN: 89.23; conjunction, logical, explanatory)
     

     Syntactic Force: Explanatory conjunction

    Also you can  click on the link to the Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament Glossary:

    explanatory conjunction: A conjunction used to introduce an explanation of a previously mentioned sentential element. (References:BDF n/a; Wallace p. 673; Smyth §2808-2809, 2811.)


     

     

     

     


         


        for
          Contained in:
          Syntactic Force:
          Sentence Explanatory conjunction

    • John Brumett
      John Brumett Member Posts: 612 ✭✭

      Sorry: When I tried to edit my post it jumbled everything around and put large spaces between words.  [:(] 

    • Tes
      Tes Member Posts: 4,035 ✭✭✭

      Hi, John ,I have tried to look it,but  I need some explanations.

      1. How do I link them? I have tried to link them with the alphabets,but not succeded.
      2. "explanatory conjunction: A conjunction used to introduce an explanation of a previously mentioned sentential element. (References:BDF n/a; Wallace p. 673; Smyth §2808-2809, 2811.)" I don't understand what this means. I am looking forward for the clarification,perhaps this may have some advantagres for what I am looking.

      Blessings in Christ.