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135 lines
5.9 KiB
Markdown
135 lines
5.9 KiB
Markdown
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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 with <u>of</u>, or an apostrophe and the letter <u>s</u>, or a possessive pronoun.
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* the house <u>of</u> my grandfather
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* my grandfather<u>'s</u> house
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* <u>his</u> 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
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* my teacher - the person who teaches me
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* Contents - Something has something in it.
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* a bag of potatoes - a bag that has potatoes in it, or a bag that is full of potatoes
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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
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* 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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* Translators 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
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#### Possession with objects or people
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**Ownership**
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>... the younger son ... wasted <u>his money</u> with wildly extravagant living. (Luke 15:13)
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* The phrase "his money" means that the son owned the money.
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**Social relationship**
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>Then <u>the disciples of John</u> came to him. (Matthew 9:14 ULB)
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* The "the disciples of John" were people who learned from John.
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**Material**
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>On their heads were something like <u>crowns of gold</u> (Revelation 9:7)
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* "Crowns of gold" are crowns that are made of gold.
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**Contents**
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>Whoever gives you <u>a cup of water</u> to drink ... will not lose his reward. (Mark 9:41 ULB)
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* A cup of water has water in it.
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**Part of a whole**
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>But Uriah slept at <u>the door of the king's palace</u> (2 Samuel 11:9 ULB)
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* The door of a palace is a part of the palace.
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**Part of a group**
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>To <u>each one of us</u> has been given a gift (Ephesians 4:7 ULB)
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* In the example above, "us" refers a group, and "each one" refers to the individual members of the group.
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#### Possession with Events
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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 does the action named by the first noun.
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>The <u>**baptism** of John</u>, was it from heaven or from men? Answer me." (Mark 11:30)
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* The underlined phrase is about John baptizing people.
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>Who will separate us from <u>the **love** of Christ</u>? (Romans 3:35)
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* The underlined phrase is about Christ loving us.
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**Object** - Sometimes the word after "of" tells who or what something happens to.
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>For <u>the **love** of money</u> is a root of all kinds of evil. (1 Timothy 6:10 ULB)
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* The underlined phrase is about people loving money.
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**Instrument** - Sometimes the word after "of" tells the instrument that is used to do something.
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>then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings <u>the **punishment** of the sword</u> (Job 19:29 ULB)
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* The underlined phrase is about God punishing people by sending enemies to attack them with swords.
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**Representation** - Sometimes the word after "of" tells what the idea before "of" represents.
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>As John came, he was baptizing in the wilderness and was preaching <u>a **baptism** of repentance</u> for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:4 ULB)
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* This is about baptism representing repentance. John was teaching people that they should be baptised to show that they were repenting of their sins.
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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 UDB. Sometimes it shows the relationship clearly.
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1. See what the notes say about it.
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### Translation Strategies
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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.
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* **On their heads were something like <u>crowns of gold</u>** (Revelation 9:7)
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* On their heads were <u>**gold** crowns</u>
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1. Use a verb to show how the two are related.
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* **... Whoever gives you <u>a cup of water</u> to drink ... will not lose his reward.** (Mark 9:41 ULB)
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* ... Whoever gives you <u>a cup that **has** water in it</u> to drink ... will not lose his reward.
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* **Wealth is worthless on <u>the day of wrath</u>** (Proverbs 11:4 ULB)
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* Wealth is worthless on <u>the day when God **shows** his wrath</u>.
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* Wealth is worthless on <u>the day when God **punishes** people because of his wrath</u>.
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1. If one of the nouns refers to an event, translate it as a verb.
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* **Notice that I am not speaking to your children, who have not known or seen <u>the punishment of Yahweh your God</u>,** (Deuteronomy 11:2 ULB)
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* Notice that I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen <u>how Yahweh your God **punished** the people of Egypt.</u>
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* **You will only observe and see the <u>punishment of the wicked</u>.** (Psalm 91:8 ULB)
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* You will only observe and see <u>how Yahweh **punishes** the wicked</u>.
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* **... you will receive <u>the gift of the Holy Spirit</u>.** (Acts 2:38 ULB)
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* ... you will receive <u>the Holy Spirit, whom God will **give** to you</u>.
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