tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11875966.post112817101450230415..comments2023-10-20T07:28:50.948-07:00Comments on Better Bibles Blog: Blessing GodWayne Lemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18024771201561767893noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11875966.post-1128660669251804462005-10-06T21:51:00.000-07:002005-10-06T21:51:00.000-07:00Why not go back to the etymology of eulogeo in tra...Why not go back to the etymology of <I>eulogeo</I> in translation? It seems pretty straightforward to me that <I>eulogeo</I> nearly always means "to speak well of." However, our culture struggles with the idea of speaking well <I>prescriptively</I> rather than <I>descriptively</I>. That is, for instance, when God "blesses" someone, who "speaks well" of that person, and, by speaking <I>makes it so</I>. Likewise when one person "blesses" another in the sense of pronouncing a blessing, he prays that God will cause these good things to happen to the recipient of the blessing. But in some cases, as when we "bless" God, our words are not, in this sense, effective. They are purely descriptive. God is already "blessed." Perhaps it makes sense to translate the word "bless" when the context makes the pronouncement efficacious, and "praise," or even "say good things about" in a more informal translation, when the context makes it purely descriptive. Perhaps something like this could also be used to help distinguish in translation <I>eulogia</I> from <I>makaries</I>, the other word usually translated "blessing" in the NT, which has a different meaning.<BR/><BR/>I realize that wasn't the point of this post. I very much appreciate and agree with the actual point, but just wanted to give my two cents on "blessed" here since the mailing list is somewhat too high volume for me to handle.Kenny Pearcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05561248709234656660noreply@blogger.com