[annalex]

Good post, as usual, but I would take issue with

I would construe Μενουν ... as "No, you dope, HERE's the way to think about blessedness!"

There is no "No". The usual translation is "Yes, rather" both in King James and Douay.

[Mad Dawg]

Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich has "on the contrary". Kittel doesn't have it.

You don't like the Mad Dawg translation? I was thinking it was kind of an intensive of μεν which has a sense of "on the one hand". B,A,&G also offer μενουνγε which I take to be kind of a double intensive.

SO you got your "ho men .... ho de ..." kind of lingo as in. "Ho men Dubya is Republican, ho de he's kind of lousy on the border issue." On the one hand this on the other hand that.

So that's where I got the sense of "You are looking at it all wrong, the way to look at blessedness is ...."

But, yeah, reasonable folk could differ.

Thanks for nice words. I appreciate it.