A.T. Robertson’s Greek Final

I found this over at SBCheritage.com. It is John Broadus’ final exam, assisted by A.T. Robertson.

I thought I might give some of the questions a try without study, lexicon, or other helps. Let’s see how it goes!

1) 1 Macc 11:63–74:

63 καὶ ἤκουσεν Ιωναθαν ὅτι παρῆσαν οἱ ἄρχοντες Δημητρίου εἰς Κηδες τὴν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς βουλόμενοι μεταστῆσαι αὐτὸν τῆς χρείας. 64 καὶ συνήντησεν αὐτοῖς, τὸν δὲ ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ Σιμωνα κατέλιπεν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ. 65 καὶ παρενέβαλεν Σιμων ἐπὶ Βαιθσουρα καὶ ἐπολέμει αὐτὴν ἡμέρας πολλὰς καὶ συνέκλεισεν αὐτήν. 66 καὶ ἠξίωσαν αὐτὸν τοῦ δεξιὰς λαβεῖν, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἐξέβαλεν αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖθεν καὶ κατελάβετο τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἔθετο ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν φρουράν. 67 καὶ Ιωναθαν καὶ ἡ παρεμβολὴ αὐτοῦ παρενέβαλον ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ Γεννησαρ· καὶ ὤρθρισαν τὸ πρωὶ εἰς τὸ πεδίον Ασωρ. 68 καὶ ἰδοὺ ἡ παρεμβολὴ ἀλλοφύλων ἀπήντα αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ καὶ ἐξέβαλον ἔνεδρον ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀπήντησαν ἐξ ἐναντίας. 69 τὰ δὲ ἔνεδρα ἐξανέστησαν ἐκ τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν καὶ συνῆψαν πόλεμον. 70 καὶ ἔφυγον οἱ παρὰ Ιωναθου πάντες, οὐδὲ εἷς κατελείφθη ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν πλὴν Ματταθιας ὁ τοῦ Αψαλωμου καὶ Ιουδας ὁ τοῦ Χαλφι ἄρχοντες τῆς στρατιᾶς τῶν δυνάμεων. 71 καὶ διέρρηξεν Ιωναθαν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπέθετο γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ προσηύξατο. 72 καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πολέμῳ καὶ ἐτροπώσατο αὐτούς, καὶ ἔφυγον. 73 καὶ εἶδον οἱ φεύγοντες παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν καὶ ἐδίωκον μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἕως Κεδες ἕως τῆς παρεμβολῆς αὐτῶν καὶ παρενέβαλον ἐκεῖ. 74 καὶ ἔπεσον ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ εἰς ἄνδρας τρισχιλίους. καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Ιωναθαν εἰς Ιερουσαλημ.

Translation

63 And Jonathan heard that the rulers of Demetrius were present in Kedes, which is in Galilee, with a great force desiring to depose him from duty. 64 And he gathered with them, and he left his brother Simon in the country. 65 And Simon encamped in Baithsoura and he warred against it for many days and he shut it up. 66 And they considered it in order to receive the right hand, and he gave [it] to them. And he left them there and he overtook the city and he placed in it _____. 67 And Jonathan and the his camp encamped upon the sea of Gennesar. And they _____ in the early morning into the plain of Asor. 68 And behold the camp of foreigners went out to him in the plain and they cast a _____ on him in the mountains, and they went out before him. 69 And the ______ rose up from their places and they made war. 70 And all fled from Jonathan, and not one was left from them except Mattathias, the son of Apsalomo, and Joudas, the son of Chalphi, the rulers of the army of the forces. 71 And Jonathan tore his garments and put land/dirt upon his head and he prayed. 72 And he turned to them in war, and he _____ them, and fled. 73 And those who were fleeing from him saw and they turned to him and they pursued with him until Kedes up to their camp and they encamped there. 74 And they fell from the foreigners in that day into 3,000 men (they killed 3,000 of the enemy that day), and Jonathan to Jerusalem. 

2) Translate into Greek

The man who thinks that he knows it all, probably does not know much about anything. Yet we must seek to know the truth in order that we may not preach falsehood. Do not follow those who profess to know more about spiritual things than the Bible reveals. If God had not shown us the way of life, we should not have known what to do to be saved from our many sins. See to it that you be true to the promise you made to God to declare his will to men.

ο ανθρωπος ος δοκει οτι γινωσκει αυτον παν, ____ ου γινωσκει πολυ περι _____. ετι οφειλομεν γινωσκειν την αληθειαν ινα μη κηρυσσωμεν ψευδην διδαχην. μη ακολουθειτε εκεινους ους μαρτυρουσιν γινωσκειν μαλλον περι πνευμακτικων του βιβλου αποκαλυπτει.

[Okay, this is painful, for you and me, so I will move on to question 3]

3) Acts 26:24–33

24 Ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἀπολογουμένου ὁ Φῆστος μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ φησιν· μαίνῃ, Παῦλε· τὰ πολλά σε γράμματα ⸆ εἰς μανίαν περιτρέπει. 25 ὁ δὲ Παῦλος· οὐ μαίνομαι, φησίν, κράτιστε Φῆστε, ἀλλὰ ἀληθείας καὶ σωφροσύνης ῥήματα ἀποφθέγγομαι. 26 ἐπίσταται γὰρ περὶ τούτων ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς ὃν °καὶ παρρησιαζόμενος λαλῶ, λανθάνειν γὰρ αὐτόν ⸀[τι] τούτων οὐ πείθομαι °1οὐθέν· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν γωνίᾳ πεπραγμένον τοῦτο. 27 πιστεύεις, βασιλεῦ Ἀγρίππα, τοῖς προφήταις; οἶδα ὅτι πιστεύεις. 28 ὁ δὲ Ἀγρίππας πρὸς τὸν Παῦλον· ἐν ὀλίγῳ ⸂με πείθεις⸃ ⸀Χριστιανὸν ⸁ποιῆσαι. 29 ὁ δὲ Παῦλος· ⸀εὐξαίμην ἂν τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐν ὀλίγῳ καὶ ἐν ⸁μεγάλῳ οὐ μόνον σὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντάς μου σήμερον γενέσθαι τοιούτους ὁποῖος καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι παρεκτὸς τῶν δεσμῶν τούτων. 30 ⸂Ἀνέστη τε⸃ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ὁ ἡγεμὼν ἥ τε Βερνίκη καὶ οἱ συγκαθήμενοι αὐτοῖς, 31 καὶ ἀναχωρήσαντες ἐλάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες °ὅτι οὐδὲν θανάτου ἢ δεσμῶν ἄξιόν °1[τι] πράσσει ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος. 32 ⸂Ἀγρίππας δὲ τῷ Φήστῳ ἔφη· ἀπολελύσθαι ἐδύνατο ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος⸃ εἰ μὴ ἐπεκέκλητο Καίσαρα. ⸆

Translate

 24 And when he was defending himself, Festus said with a great voice, “You are insane, Paul. The great learning drives you into insanity.” 25 And Paul says, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I ____ true and ____ words. 26 For the king knows about these things to whom I am speaking boldly, for I am not persuaded that he has _____ these things. For it is not in _____ that he has done this. 27 Do you believe, king Agrippa, in the prophets? I know that you believe. 28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short [time] you think to make me a Christian?” 29 And Paul said, “I pray to God, whether in a short time or in a long time, not only you but also all who hear me today might become of such a manner as I am, except for these chains. 30 Then the king arose, and the leader, and also Bernice and those sitting with them, 31 and those who departed were speaking with one another saying that this man did nothing worthy of neither death nor chains. 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man was able to depart except he called upon Caesar.”

Though there is more to the quiz, I need to get back to my Latin studies. Afterwards, though, and as this quiz made abundantly clear, I need to brush up on some Greek!

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5 Responses to A.T. Robertson’s Greek Final

  1. This looks incredibly challenging, but I can definitely appreciate tests like this. You really get to know your stuff, and it brings out the inner masochist. Love it!

  2. jdhomie says:

    I am really curious about this idea that Biblical Greek is better suited for revelation than Classical. As a classics major, I usually hear just the opposite from my Homer-loving professors: biblical Greek is low, amateur, less suited to anything venerable. (Although I must say, the gospels would be pretty interesting in Homeric dactylic hexameter!) I’m not so sure modern linguists would really subscribe to the idea that any language is better suited to revelation.

  3. jacobcerone says:

    JD, much agreed on hat point. I can’t speak to the context surrounding the question (ie the material taught and expected as an answer), but that was my reaction to the question.

  4. Pingback: Septuagint Studies Soirée #9 and #10: Buy One, Get One Free Edition | Words on the Word

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