G4314

• {"n":"John 1:1b","s":"The Word was with God. The preposition is not the one you would expect for with.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=john-1-1b","r":"John 1:1","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"Every English version reads with. Some commentaries offer toward, or face to face with, and none of that reaches the text."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**I sat with my wife.** **I turned to my wife.** Both put two people together. Only the second one tells you which way anyone was facing. English with is a flat word. Greek had a choice here and picked the turned-toward one."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"The preposition is pros with the accusative. Its ordinary sense is motion toward or orientation facing. Greek had meta and syn available for plain accompaniment, and John used neither. Pros with a person in the accusative carries a sense of being turned toward, in relationship with."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English with is flat. It covers standing next to someone and being in a relationship with them, and no English preposition carries orientation the way pros does."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"When a writer picks an unusual preposition where a plain one was available, the preposition is part of the argument. Check which one was the obvious choice and ask why it was passed over."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"With is not wrong and there is no better English. The question is only how much weight the preposition will carry, and commentators divide on whether pros here is genuinely relational or simply Koine usage drifting toward the accusative."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u03c0\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2 pros \u00b7 G4314"}],"src":["Pros with the accusative of person in relational sense: Mark 6:3; 1 Corinthians 16:6-7; Galatians 1:18","The alternatives John did not use: meta, syn, para"]}