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### Description
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In common English, “possession” refers to having something, or to something that a person has. In English that grammatical relationship is shown by using the word ** *"of"***, by using an apostrophe and the letter ** *s***, or by using a possessive pronoun.
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* the house ** *of*** my grandfather
* my grandfather***‘ s*** house
* ***his*** house
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Possession is used in Hebrew, Greek, and English for a variety of situations. Here are a few common situations that it is used for.
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* Ownership - Someone owns something.
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* My clothes - The clothes that I own
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* Social relationship - Someone has some kind of social relationship with another.
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* my mother - the woman who gave birth to me, or the woman who cared for me
* my teacher - the person who teaches me
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* Contents - Something has something in it.
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* a bag of clothes - a bag that has clothes in it, or a bag that is full of clothes
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* Part and whole: One thing is part of another.
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* my head - the head that is part of my body
* the roof of a house - the roof that is part of a house
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#### Reasons this is a translation issue
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* You (the translator) need to understand the relationship between two ideas represented by the two nouns when one possesses the other.
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* Some languages do not use possession for all of the situations that your source text Bible might use it for.
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### Examples from the Bible
**Ownership** - In the example below, the son owned the money.
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> …the younger son…wasted ***his money*** with wildly extravagant living. (Luke 15:13)
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**Social Relationship** - In the example below, the disciples were people who learned from John.
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> Then ***the disciples of John*** came to him…, (Matthew 9:14 ULT)
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**Material** - In the example below, the material used for making the crowns was gold.
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> On their heads were something like ***crowns of gold*** (Revelation 9:7)
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**Contents** - In the example below, the cup has water in it.
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> Whoever gives you ***a cup of water*** to drink…will not lose his reward. (Mark 9:41 ULT)
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**Part of a whole** - In the example below, the door was a part of the palace.
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> But Uriah slept at ***the door of the king’ s palace*** (2 Samuel 11:9 ULT)
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**Part of a group** - In the example below, “us” refers to the whole group and “each one” refers to the individual members.
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> To ***each one of us*** has been given a gift (Ephesians 4:7 ULT)
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#### Events and Possession
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Sometimes one or both of the nouns is an abstract noun that refers to an event or action. In the examples below, the abstract nouns are in **bold** print. These are just some of the relationships that are possible between two nouns when one of them refers to an event.
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**Subject** - Sometimes the word after “of” tells who would do the action named by the first noun. In the example below, ** *John baptized people***.
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> The *****baptism** of John***, was it from heaven or from men? Answer me.” (Mark 11:30)
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In the example below, ** *Christ loves us***.
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> Who will separate us from ***the **love** of Christ***? (Romans 3:35)
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**Object** - Sometimes the word after “of” tells who or what something would happen to. In the example below, ** *people love money***.
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> For ***the **love** of money*** is a root of all kinds of evil. (1 Timothy 6:10 ULT)
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**Instrument** - Sometimes the word after “of” tells how something would happen. In the example below, God would ** *punish people by sending enemies to attack them with swords***.
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> then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings ***the **punishment** of the sword*** (Job 19:29 ULT)
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**Representation** - In the example below, John was baptizing people who were repenting of their sins. They were being baptized to show that they were repenting. Their ** *baptism represented their repentance***.
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> As John came, he was baptizing in the wilderness and was preaching ***a **baptism** of repentance*** for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:4 ULT)
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### Strategies for learning what the relationship is between the two nouns
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1. Read the surrounding verses to see if they help you to understand the relationship between the two nouns.
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1. Read the verse in the UST. Sometimes it shows the relationship clearly.
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1. See what the notes say about it.
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### Translation Strategies
If possession would be a natural way to show a particular relationship between two nouns, consider using it. If it would be strange or hard to understand, consider these.
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1. Use an adjective to show that one describes the other.
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1. Use a verb to show how the two are related.
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1. If one of the nouns refers to an event, translate it as a verb.
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### Examples of Translation Strategies Applied
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(1) Use an adjective to show that one describes the other. The adjective below is in **bold** print.
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> **On their heads were something like ***crowns of gold***** (Revelation 9:7)
>> “On their heads were ** ***gold** crowns*** “
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(2) Use a verb to show how the two are related. In the example below, the added verb is in bold.
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> **…Whoever gives you ***a cup of water*** to drink…will not lose his reward.** (Mark 9:41 ULT)
>> …Whoever gives you ** *a cup that **has** water in it*** to drink…will not lose his reward.
> **Wealth is worthless on ***the day of wrath***** (Proverbs 11:4 ULT)
>> Wealth is worthless on ** *the day when God **shows** his wrath.***
>> Wealth is worthless on the ** *day when God **punishes** people because of his wrath***.
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(3) If one of the nouns refers to an event, translate it as a verb. In the example below, that verb is in bold.
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> **Notice that I am not speaking to your children, who have not known or seen ***the punishment of Yahweh your God***,** (Deuteronomy 11:2 ULT)
>> Notice that I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen ** *how Yahweh your God **punished** the people of Egypt.***
> **You will only observe and see the ***punishment of the wicked***.** (Psalms 91:8 ULT)
>> You will only observe and see ** *how Yahweh **punishes** the wicked***.
> **…you will receive the gift ***of the Holy Spirit***.** (Acts 2:38 ULT)
>> …you will receive ** *the Holy Spirit, whom God will **give** to you***.
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