[Pmary65]

GREEK CLARIFICATION "First of the Sabbaths" is a mistranslation of the Greek. The word μία, "one," is feminine, and must agree with the (understood) feminine word ἡμέρα, "day." The word Σάββατον (plural Σάββατα), on the other hand, is neuter. In Greek, "first of the Sabbaths" would have to be πρῶτον τῶν Σαββάτων, and "one of the Sabbaths" would have to be ἓν τῶν Σαββάτων. Μία τῶν Σαββάτων means "(day) one of the Sabbaths," i.e. of a seven-day period from one Sabbath to the next. See Liddell/Scott/Jones' authoritative Greek-English Lexicon s.v. Σάββατον.” ‘Quote’ of Bill Berg23 (Moderator), 25/12/06 Greek Translatum Forum

[Daniel Gregg]

Pmary65, I don't know if you read all the posts in that thread on translatium. There I explained the reason for the Gender conflict as follows: Daniel007 Newbie Online Posts: 16 My reply on that forum: The usual Greek phrase for Sabbath day is: ἡμέρᾳ τῶν σαββάτων (Luke 4:16). What I see is that you make a proper point. The word "day" is implied by the feminine word for "one". So the result is: τῇ μιᾷ [ἡμέρᾳ] τῶν σαββάτων = the first Sabbath [day] or "One [day] of the Sabbaths" It appears that this is simply the usual phrase for the sabbath day with the word "first" or "one" put on the front. While "one" must agree with "day", it is obvious that "day" does not have to agree in either number or gender with "sabbaths". So, I fail to see how this gender argument makes "sabbaths" mean "week", since the gender clash is already in the usual phrase for the Sabbath day. You make the point that "first of the Sabbaths" requires the Greek ordinal number πρῶτοv . This is is probably so in Modern Greek to Byzantine Greek, but the Gospels reflect a Hebrew or Aramaic idiom where the word "echat" or "echad" means both "one" and "first". This point was made by John Calvin in his commentaries on these passages. He even thought that Acts 20:7 refered to the Sabbath and cited John Chrysostom as having the same opinion. I have been unable to find Calvin's source on Chrysostom. It would be possible to take this one step further. The phrase is a pure semiticism for "Echat ha- shabbattot" (first of the Sabbaths), because the word "Echat" is feminine to agree with "Shabbatot" (Hebrew fem. plural for 'sabbaths"). It would seem then that the phrase "first of the Sabbaths" was borrowed into Greek from a Hebrew or Aramaic designation for the first of the seven Sabbaths mentioned in Leviticus 23:15. If you have any sources other than the resurrection passages or Acts 20:7, 1Cor. 16:2, or Luke 18:12 which would show an unambiguous meaning of "week" for "Sabbath" inside the first century, I'd like to know about it. I read an article by E. Vogt --it's in German in Biblica. He denies that 'sabbath' meant week. Also, C.S. Mann in the Anchor Bible of Matthew questiones it. The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that "Shabbat" was confused with "Sheba" (seven) early on by the Church. I understand your argument from the point of view of "pure Greek", but I think the semitic influence needs to be accounted for. Daniel.