Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §20.1
Translation
1 Accordingly, you [a] requested that the things that happened be clarified for you more fully. [b] However, we have presently [c] reported through our brother Marcion,[d] as it were, with summary headings. [e] Therefore, after you have appropriated [f] these things, send the letter on to brothers beyond you so that they also might glorify the Lord, who makes chosen instruments [g] from among his own servants.
[a] ?????? is a second person plural, i.e., the church of Philomelium. See §Preface.
[b] ??? ???????? is a comparative phrase in which ?? may have elided or been omitted. 2 Maccabees 12:24 (LXX Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft) reads, ... ??? ?? ???????? ??? ?????? .... because he held the parents of most of them (NRSV).
[c] ???? ?? ????? lit. according to the present.
[d] Lake notes, "Not of course to be identified with the famous heretic. If Marcianus be the right text, it is noteworthy that Irenaeus sent his treatise on the 'The Apostolic Preaching' to a certain Marcianus. But this was probably forty years later than Polycarp's death." (Apostolic Fathers, vol 2, p 339).
[e] ?? ?? ???????? lit. as in brief, in summary. The root ?????? (head) has metaphorical uses in the Greek speaking world similar to our own, such that "summary headings" seems, in our estimation, to better connect the translation at this point to the original in both word and concept.
[f] ???????? (???????) to learn (BAGD, 490).
[g] ??????? appears to emphasize the outcome of what the Lord makes (i.e., things chosen), rather than describe adverbially what he makes (i.e., that he chooses). Conceptually, the Lord has made St. Polycarp a chosen instrument; hence, the word is supplied in italics. Acts 9:15 (NA27) reads, ????? ?? ???? ????? ? ??????· ???????, ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ... But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is my chosen instrument..." (author's translation).
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In This Series
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §Preface
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §2.1-2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §2.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §2.4
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §3.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §3.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §4
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §5.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §5.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §6.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §6.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §7.1a
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §7.1b
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §7.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §7.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §8.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §8.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §8.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §9.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §9.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §9.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §10.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §10.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §11.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §11.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §12.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §12.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §12.3
- Translation: Martyrdom of Polycarp
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §13.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §13.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §13.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §14.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §14.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §14.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §15.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §15.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §16.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §16.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §17.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §17.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §17.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §18.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §18.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §18.3
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §19.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §19.2
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §20.1
- Translation and Commentary on The Martyrdom of Polycarp §20.2
