G2638

• {"n":"John 1:5","s":"The darkness did not comprehend it, or did not overcome it. The verb means both and John probably wanted both.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=john-1-5","r":"John 1:5","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"Modern versions split. Some read overcome, some read understand, and most footnote the other."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**I could not grasp the rope.** **I could not grasp the idea.** One English verb, two completely different failures, and only the rest of the sentence tells you which. Now imagine a sentence where the rest does not tell you. That is this verse."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Katalambano means to seize, to take hold of. Applied to the mind it becomes grasp, understand. Applied to a hand or an army it becomes seize, overpower. Both are ordinary uses of the same verb."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"No single English verb means both grasp-with-the-mind and grab-by-force. Comprehend and overcome are two different English words, and a translator has to pick one."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"Some Greek verbs cover a physical action and a mental one with the same word, because the mental sense is a metaphor the language never stopped noticing. When your versions split between a physical and a mental rendering, this is usually why."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"Comprehended, the older reading, fits the theme of recognition that runs through the prologue and into verses 10 and 11. Overcome fits the light-darkness conflict and reads more naturally in a sentence about darkness. John writes with deliberate double meanings elsewhere in this Gospel, at 3:3 and 3:8 and 19:30, which is the argument for not choosing."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03bc\u03b2\u03ac\u03bd\u03c9 katalambano \u00b7 G2638"}],"src":["The physical sense: Mark 9:18; John 8:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:4","The mental sense: Acts 4:13; Ephesians 3:18"]}