ἐπιτιμάω - Part II

In my last post I went through all the contexts in the NT in which ἐπιτιμάω is used, and made a first approximation of the meaning – ‘tell someone to stop [doing something]’. But if we really want to be sure that this is the meaning, we have to consider what other possible word choices were available. In other words, if you have a lot of words that mean more or less the same thing, then the meanings can be quite specific. If there are only one or two words, then the meaning is more general. I'm proposing a fairly specific meaning. It will need to be supported.

So what are the words we should be looking for in Greek that are near synonyms of ἐπιτιμάω? – those that will help us tell if its meaning is as precise as my previous post suggests, or if it has a more general meaning and it’s merely an accident of our texts that so many of the contexts happen to line up a particular way.

There are two ways to approach this. One is to think about what kinds of speech acts might get translated as rebuke and figure out what the possible Greek words would be. The other is to look in Louw and Nida who have already thought this out. Of course looking in Louw and Nida doesn’t excuse us from thinking through what the aspects of meaning of the English word are. So let’s examine that first.

It seems there are two general aspects to rebuke. One is to modify behavior – to tell people not to act a certain way. The other is to talk to people in a stern way about their behavior. Louw and Nida list ἐπιτιμάω under two categories that that more or less match this analysis.

For telling people what to do (or what not to do) Louw and Nida give us διαστέλλομαι, κελεύω, ἐντέλλομαι, παραγγέλλω, τάσσω, διατάσσω, προστάσσω, and συντάσσω. (Command, Order 33.323-332) For telling people things they don’t want to hear, they list ἐλέγχω, νουθετέω, ὀνειδέζω, ἐπιπλήσσω, and ἐμβριμάομαι (Rebuke 33.417-422).

Note – When I say that I like Louw and Nida, this is why. Their semantic categories bring the mutually relevant words together so we can actually sit down of an evening and do the kind of thing I’m talking about. If you look in Strong’s under forms of rebuke, you only find ἐπιτιμάω, ἐλέγχω, and ἐπιπλήσσω. Of course, you have to be careful in Louw and Nida because they lump nouns, verbs, and adjectives in the same list, and take care when there is a phrase as opposed to a single word, but that’s for a more advanced lesson. For now we’ll just collect the verbs that are near synonyms.

Now we have thirteen words and it looks a little daunting. Do we have to do for all of them what we did for ἐπιτιμάω? Unfortunately, yes. But in this series of posts, I’m going to short circuit the matter some by zipping past some words with just a skeleton argument regarding their meaning, and focus on those few that help us the most in sharpening our understanding of what means. The particular words I’ll treat lightly are those that function as general words (cover terms), specifically παραγγέλλω and the forms related to τάσσω and words that only occur once like ἐπιπλήσσω or just a few times and aren’t otherwise helpful, like ἐμβριμάομαι.

So let’s just start with one of these near synonyms. διαστέλλομαι is an obvious choice because it seems to have a meaning very close to that of ἐπιτιμάω – so close that there is one passage in which the variant readings differ only in these two words, Matt. 16:20.

Matt. 16:20

20 τοτε επετιμησεν τοις μαθηταις ινα μηδενι ειπωσιν οτι αυτος εστιν ο χριστος

20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matt. 16:20

20 τοτε διεστειλατο τοις μαθηταις ινα μηδενι ειπωσιν οτι αυτος εστιν ο χριστος

20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah

When we’ve worked out what the difference in meaning is, we’ll come back to this passage.

While διαστέλλομαι doesn’t occur much in the NT, seven times, not counting the variant reading, six of those times it clearly means to tell someone not to do something. Once again I’ll list the examples, by sense and comment on the trickier ones afterward.

1) tell not to speak (4)

Mark 5:43

43 και διεστειλατο αυτοις πολλα ινα μηδεις γνοι τουτο και ειπεν δοθηναι αυτη φαγειν

43 But Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone, and he said, "Give her something to eat."

Mark 7:36 (2X)

36 και διεστειλατο αυτοις ινα μηδενι λεγωσιν οσον δε αυτοις διεστελλετο αυτοι μαλλον περισσοτερον εκηρυσσον

36 Then Jesus ordered the people not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he ordered them not to, the more they told it.

Mark 9:9

9 και καταβαινοντων αυτων εκ του ορους διεστειλατο αυτοις ινα μηδενι α ειδον διηγησωνται ει μη οταν ο υιος του ανθρωπου εκ νεκρων αναστη

9 As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has risen from death."

2) tell not to act (2)

Heb. 12:20

19 και σαλπιγγος ηχω και φωνη ρηματων ης οι ακουσαντες παρητησαντο μη προστεθηναι αυτοις λογον 20 ουκ εφερον γαρ το διαστελλομενον καν θηριον θιγη του ορους λιθοβοληθησεται

19 the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word, 20 because they could not bear the order which said, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death."

Mark 8:15

15 και διεστελλετο αυτοις λεγων ορατε βλεπετε απο της ζυμης των φαρισαιων και της ζυμης ηρωδου

15 "Take care," Jesus warned them, "and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

3) not tell to act (1)

Acts 15:24

24 επειδη ηκουσαμεν οτι τινες εξ ημων εξελθοντες εταραξαν υμας λογοις ανασκευαζοντες τας ψυχας υμων οις ου διεστειλαμεθα

24 We have heard that some who went from our group have troubled and upset you by what they said; they had not, however, received any instruction from us.

The first four cases of telling someone not to speak are quite clear. The two cases of telling someone not to act might not be so obvious. In the Heb. 12:20 passage, το διαστελλομενον, glossed ‘the order’, is a participle, so a more literal rendering would be ‘that which one is told not to do’, i.e., it’s not just an order, it’s a commandment forbidding action. In the Mark 8:15 passage things are a little trickier. GNB glosses ‘warn’, but the English word warn has two aspects, first telling someone to behave (or not behave) in a certain way, and second that there will be consequences for failure to comply. But this isn’t so much a warning with some implied consequence as it is Jesus simply telling the disciples not to act in ways that reflect the thinking of the Pharisees and Herod, or maybe just don’t think like that. Either way it’s a charge not to act, not a warning.

Now let’s look at the last and most problematic case, Acts 15:24. Here the negative notion is not associated with the content of the communication, but with the communication itself, i.e., the apostles did not tell these teachers to teach what they are teaching. Since this is the only instance in this sense, and it’s clear that this word is affiliated with commands given by the apostles, similar to the command from God in the Hebrews verse, and given that this is a sense that goes back to Classical Greek, I don’t think it’s that important here that there is no clear negative in the content of the implicit communication from the teachers, because the key issue is whether a command from the apostles was given to the teachers in the first place.

Now comparing ἐπιτιμάω and διαστέλλομαι one can see that the difference in meaning is subtle, but real. Both of them mean to tell someone not to do something, but in contrast to ἐπιτιμάω, the instances of διαστέλλομαι are all cases in which the addressee has not yet done the thing being forbidden. This is particularly clear in Heb. 12:20, where the receiver of the command would be dead if he’d been acting in violation of the command. It’s also clear in Mark 9:9 (part of the Transfiguration account) where Jesus gives the command before the disciples have seen anyone else. And likewise in Mark 5:43 (part of the account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter), Jesus gives the command before any of the witnesses have had a chance to tell anyone else. In these cases the forbidden action is only a potential action, and the command is one not to do something one might otherwise start doing.

At the beginning I promised to look at the verse that has alternate readings, one with ἐπιτιμάω and one with διαστέλλομαι. Here it is:

Matt. 16:20

20 τοτε επετιμησεν τοις μαθηταις ινα μηδενι ειπωσιν οτι αυτος εστιν ο χριστος

20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matt. 16:20

20 τοτε διεστειλατο τοις μαθηταις ινα μηδενι ειπωσιν οτι αυτος εστιν ο χριστος

20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

This is in the passage in which Jesus first reveals that he is the Messiah. The preferred reading for reasons of textual criticism is the second. Interestingly enough this is consistent with our analysis of the meanings of these words. διαστέλλομαι is appropriate rather than ἐπιτιμάω because it is forbidding potential action not commanding the cessation of action. After all, the disciples hadn’t seen anyone to tell yet.

There are more words to be looked at in future posts, but the shape of ἐπιτιμάω is starting to emerge. Its shades of meaning are far more subtle than one might expect. The recognition of that fact raises an important point about what accuracy in translation means. Since English doesn’t have easy ways of expressing distinctions like those we have been discussing, an accurate translation of verses with ἐπιτιμάω will have to take into account the degree to which the semantic component in the command to cease an action is relevant to the verse being translated. So I’d argue that Luke 8:24 should be translated as follows:

Luke 8:24

24 προσελθοντες δε διηγειραν αυτον λεγοντες επιστατα επιστατα απολλυμεθα ο δε διεγερθεις επετιμησεν τω ανεμω και τω κλυδωνι του υδατος και επαυσαντο και εγενετο γαληνη

24 The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up, saying, "Master, Master! We are about to die!" Jesus got up and commanded the wind and the storm to stop; they quieted down, and there was a great calm. [Modified from the GNB]

[cf. the original GNB] The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up, saying, "Master, Master! We are about to die!" Jesus got up and gave an order to the wind and to the stormy water; they quieted down, and there was a great calm.

Take special note. This is not interpretation. This is what the original actually means. To fail to convey this in the translation is not being true to the original.

Appendix

Let me point out that there is reason to think that this distinction between ἐπιτιμάω and διαστέλλομαι is one that arose late, in the two to three centuries between the translation of the LXX and the writing of the NT. I won’t give the whole analysis, but the short story is that the LXX has only διαστέλλομαι meaning of telling someone not to do something. Instances of ἐπιτιμάω mean ‘punish’ which is one of the Classical Greek meanings.

3 Macc. 2:24

24 ἐν χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἀναλεξάμενος αὑτὸν οὐδαμῶς εἰς μετάμελον ἦλθεν ἐπιτιμηθείς ἀπειλὰς δὲ πικρὰς θέμενος ἀνέλυσεν

24 After a while he recovered, and though he had been punished, he by no means repented, but went away uttering bitter threats.

In the LXX διαστέλλομαι covers both of the NT senses of telling not to do something, forbidding potential action and commanding cessation of ongoing action. An example of διαστέλλομαι in the latter sense is found in the warning to Ezekiel about the responsibility of a prophet. (The passage goes on and has more instances of διαστέλλομαι, but this is enough to get the point.)

Ezek. 3:18-19

18 εν τω λεγειν με τω ανομω θανατω θανατωθηση και ου διεστειλω αυτω του διαστειλασθαι τω ανομω αποστρεψαι απο των οδων αυτου του ζησαι αυτον ο ανομος εκεινος τη αδικια αυτου αποθανειται και το αιμα αυτου εκ της χειρος σου εκζτησω 19 και συ εαν διαστειλη τω ανομω και μη απο στρεψη απο της ανομιας αυτου και απο της οδου αυτου ο ανομος εκεινος εν τη αδικια αυτου αποθανειται και συ την ψυχην σου ρυση

18 If I announce that someone evil is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, but I will hold you responsible for his death. 19 If you do warn an evil man and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

Clearly this is a case of telling someone to stop doing something, but it has διαστέλλομαι.

ἐπιτιμάω - Part I

Well, summer has come to the Bay Area. Bay to Breakers is past (the Justice League did well this year), the A’s have started winning, and the summer session has started at Berkeley. But there remains work for me from the large lecture class I taught in the spring.

Every semester there are a few people who plagiarize their papers and I have to deal with them, long after the grades have been turned in and, according to university regulation, everything is supposed to be immutably final. Some of the interactions with the plagiarists end up being rather confrontational and it has brought me around again to thinking about the notion that in Christian-speak we call rebuke.

Now I don’t know about you, but rebuke is not a word I use outside of Christian contexts. For quite some time now I have wondered what the Greek words translated “rebuke” really mean. It’s high time to find out.

I’m going to start a series of posts on working out the meaning of the word ἐπιτιμάω – the main Greek word translated “rebuke”. Consider it to be in the spirit of Suzanne’s series on ὀρθοτομέω. In it I will not only talk about how to figure out what ἐπιτιμάω really means, but I will also talk about what I understand the biggest problems in accuracy in translation are about – and they don’t have anything to do with gender appropriateness, or forms of they being used as singular.

“Oh,” you say, “We're not native speakers of Greek. We have to go to the dictionaries and look the words up.”

No, actually we don’t. For words that are used as much as ἐπιτιμάω is – 29 times, 30 if you count a variant reading – there is another option. We can, in effect, mimic what children do when they learn a language. By looking at words in context we can figure out what they mean.

For fifty years now linguists have known that language is about 50% redundant. We always thought that was about it being a vehicle for communication in noisy environments, but I'm coming to be of a different opinion. That redundancy is what makes language learnable. The consequence for Bible translation is that it breaks us out of being a slave to dictionaries. Through the magic of corpus linguistics we can learn the meaning of words more or less the way children do, by comparing them in context and using the redundancy of the context to figure out what the word really means. If a word is used enough in the NT (and LXX), and other words of similar meaning are as well, we can, with very high confidence, say things about what those words mean beyond, and sometimes even in contradiction to, what we read in Liddell & Scott, Arndt, Bauer, Gingrich, and Danker, and Louw and Nida. Not that these sources aren’t helpful – even indispensible, but we can do more. ἐπιτιμάω is a perfect candidate for this treatment. As I mentioned above it is used 29 times in the NT by Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul, and the author of Jude. Its near synonyms are many and mostly well attested. (I'll discuss them in later posts.)

So let’s dig in.

In order not to prejudice the case by looking in dictionaries first and possibly get pushed in the wrong direction, let’s look at some sample verses and see what we can tell from them before looking at the reference materials.

For those of us whose Greek is not fully fluent, I’ll include the GNB translation with the gloss of ἐπιτιμάω highlighted. (I chose the GNB because when I do this kind of exercise, the GNB scores best on accuracy, hands down – although not on this word.)

Matt . 19:13

13 τοτε προσηνεχθησαν αυτω παιδια ινα τας χειρας επιθη αυτοις και προσευξηται οι δε μαθηται επετιμησαν αυτοις

13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and to pray for them, but the disciples scolded the people.

Mark 3: 11- 12

11 και τα πνευματα τα ακαθαρτα οταν αυτον εθεωρουν προσεπιπτον αυτω και εκραζον λεγοντες οτι συ ει ο υιος του θεου 12 και πολλα επετιμα αυτοις ινα μη αυτον φανερον ποιησωσιν

11 And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, "You are the Son of God!" 12 Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

Luke 18:39

39 και οι προαγοντες επετιμων αυτω ινα σιγηση αυτος δε πολλω μαλλον εκραζεν υιε δαυιδ ελεησον με

39 The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on me!"

In each of these cases the person (or persons) whose speech act is labelled ἐπιτιμάω is giving a command of some sort for the addressee to cease doing whatever it is that they are doing. In fact, if we look at all the verses containing ἐπιτιμάω , we’ll find that 25 of the 29 instances occur in contexts with this property. The speaker of ἐπιτιμάω is telling the addressee(s) to stop acting (12 times) or stop speaking (13 times). (At the end of the post there’s an appendix with all the verses, so you can verify this for yourself.) Three times it refers to forbidding possible future action with no clear implication of past action, as in the following verse:

Luke 9:20-21

20 ειπεν δε αυτοις υμεις δε τινα με λεγετε ειναι πετρος δε αποκριθεις ειπεν τον χριστον του θεου 21 ο δε επιτιμησας αυτοις παρηγγειλεν μηδενι λεγειν τουτο

20 "What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are God's Messiah." 21 Then Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.

Only once is it unclear what is being forbidden, and that is in Jude. There it seems to be expressing simply negative communication. It could possibly be being used here in the LXX (and Classical) sense of 'punish':

Jude 1:9

9 ο δε μιχαηλ ο αρχαγγελος οτε τω διαβολω διακρινομενος διελεγετο περι του μωυσεως σωματος ουκ ετολμησεν κρισιν επενεγκειν βλασφημιας αλλα ειπεν επιτιμησαι σοι κυριος

9 Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

I’ll argue that this particular verse ought not to count too heavily in our analysis. Not only is it outvoted, as it were, by 28 other verses all of which point to a meaning of forbidding of action, but Jude is believed to have been a very late book, possibly second century. (N.B., I’m not questioning its authentic place in the canon, just its probative value in establishing the meaning of first century Koine Greek words.)

Now when we go look up ἐπιτιμάω, we find this is not what the references say. All of the lexical sources focus on the severity of the communication as the meaning rather than on the point that it is asking for a cessation of acting. (The mention of cessation of action as a result seems like almost an afterthough in BAGD.) This is not surprising. In Classical Greek it meant, among other things, ‘censure’ and ‘punish’ (see L&S for citations). But the question is, since forbidding of action was not part of the meaning in the Classical Greek, has the change in meaning into Koine included a change in the implied severity of the communication?

I think, yes. And here’ s why . Consider Matt. 16:22 (and its parallel in Mark 8:32-33):

Matt . 16:22

22 και προσλαβομενος αυτον ο πετρος ηρξατο επιτιμαν αυτω λεγων ιλεως σοι κυριε ου μη εσται σοι τουτο

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "That must never happen to you!"

Outside of this passage, Peter is always deferential to Jesus. If the focus of ἐπιτιμάω is on the forbidding of action rather than the severity of the communication, it is much more consistent with the picture the rest of Scripture paints of the relation between Jesus and his disciples. I think Matt. 16:22 reports an interaction more like this:

Peter: Master, can I talk to you for a moment. You have to stop talking like you’re going to die. God forbid. That must never happen to you!

I can’t call that rebuke.

The point is that the evidence is that ἐπιτιμάω is unmarked for the severity of the communication. Sometimes the communication is clearly quite severe, as when Jesus confronts demons (e.g., Matt. 17:18), when the crowd tells the blind beggar(s) to shut up (Matt. 20:31, Mark 10:48, Luke 18:39), or Jesus tells his disciples to put a lid on it in (Luke 9:55).

It’s more ambiguous in verses like (Matt. 19:13).

Matt . 19:13

13 τοτε προσηνεχθησαν αυτω παιδια ινα τας χειρας επιθη αυτοις και προσευξηται οι δε μαθηται επετιμησαν αυτοις

13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and to pray for them, but the disciples scolded the people.

Did the disciples say, “Go away!”? Or did they say, “Don’t bother the Master. He has more important things to do.”?

And lastly, it makes a lot more sense that we are instructed to ask diplomatically of our fellow Christians to stop acting in a way that hurts us than that we are instructed to yell at them.

Luke 17:3

3 προσεχετε εαυτοις εαν αμαρτη ο αδελφος σου επιτιμησον αυτω και εαν μετανοηση αφες αυτω

GNB 3 So watch what you do! "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

Better: 3 So watch what you do! "If your brother sins, tell him to stop, and if he repents, forgive him.

I’ll have a lot more to say when we’ve started to compare the near synonyms, but this post has gone on long enough.

Appendix

I’ve preprocessed the verses into groups according to what the context suggests, the way a lexicographer would group words into senses. The four senses are listed:

1) tell someone not to do something (3)

Matt. 12:15-16

15 ο δε ιησους γνους ανεχωρησεν εκειθεν και ηκολουθησαν αυτω πολλοι και εθεραπευσεν αυτους παντας 16 και επετιμησεν αυτοις ινα μη φανερον αυτον ποιησωσιν

15 When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all the sick 16 and gave them orders not to tell others about him.

Matt . 16:20

20 τοτε επετιμησεν τοις μαθηταις ινα μηδενι ειπωσιν οτι αυτος εστιν ο χριστος

20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Mark 8:29-30

29 και αυτος επηρωτα αυτους υμεις δε τινα με λεγετε ειναι αποκριθεις ο πετρος λεγει αυτω συ ει ο χριστος 30 και επετιμησεν αυτοις ινα μηδενι λεγωσιν περι αυτου

29 "What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah." 30 Then Jesus ordered them, "Do not tell anyone about me."

Luke 9:20-21

20 ειπεν δε αυτοις υμεις δε τινα με λεγετε ειναι πετρος δε αποκριθεις ειπεν τον χριστον του θεου 21 ο δε επιτιμησας αυτοις παρηγγειλεν μηδενι λεγειν τουτο

20 "What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are God's Messiah." 21 Then Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.

2) tell someone to stop doing something (12)

Matt . 8:26

26 και λεγει αυτοις τι δειλοι εστε ολιγοπιστοι τοτε εγερθεις επετιμησεν τοις ανεμοις και τη θαλασση και εγενετο γαληνη μεγαλη

26 "Why are you so frightened?" Jesus answered. "What little faith you have!" Then he got up and ordered the winds and the waves to stop, and there was a great calm.

Matt . 17:18

18 και επετιμησεν αυτω ο ιησους και εξηλθεν απ αυτου το δαιμονιον και εθεραπευθη ο παις απο της ωρας εκεινης

18 Jesus gave a command to the demon, and it went out of the boy, and at that very moment he was healed.

Matt . 19:13

13 τοτε προσηνεχθησαν αυτω παιδια ινα τας χειρας επιθη αυτοις και προσευξηται οι δε μαθηται επετιμησαν αυτοις

13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and to pray for them, but the disciples scolded the people.

Mark 4:39

39 και διεγερθεις επετιμησεν τω ανεμω και ειπεν τη θαλασση σιωπα πεφιμωσο και εκοπασεν ο ανεμος και εγενετο γαληνη μεγαλη

39 Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, "Be quiet!" and he said to the waves, "Be still!" The wind died down, and there was a great calm.

Mark 9:25

25 ιδων δε ο ιησους οτι επισυντρεχει οχλος επετιμησεν τω πνευματι τω ακαθαρτω λεγων αυτω το αλαλον και κωφον πνευμα εγω επιτασσω σοι εξελθε εξ αυτου και μηκετι εισελθης εις αυτον

25 Jesus noticed that the crowd was closing in on them, so he gave a command to the evil spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "I order you to come out of the boy and never go into him again!"

Mark 10:13

13 και προσεφερον αυτω παιδια ινα αυτων αψηται οι δε μαθηται επετιμησαν αυτοις

13 Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people.

Luke 4:39

39 και επιστας επανω αυτης επετιμησεν τω πυρετω και αφηκεν αυτην παραχρημα δε αναστασα διηκονει αυτοις

39 He went and stood at her bedside and ordered the fever to leave her. The fever left her, and she got up at once and began to wait on them.

Luke 8:24

24 προσελθοντες δε διηγειραν αυτον λεγοντες επιστατα επιστατα απολλυμεθα ο δε διεγερθεις επετιμησεν τω ανεμω και τω κλυδωνι του υδατος και επαυσαντο και εγενετο γαληνη

24 The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up, saying, "Master, Master! We are about to die!" Jesus got up and gave an order to the wind and to the stormy water; they quieted down, and there was a great calm.

Luke 9:42

42 ετι δε προσερχομενου αυτου ερρηξεν αυτον το δαιμονιον και συνεσπαραξεν επετιμησεν δε ο ιησους τω πνευματι τω ακαθαρτω και ιασατο τον παιδα και απεδωκεν αυτον τω πατρι αυτου

42 As the boy was coming, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a fit. Jesus gave a command to the evil spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

Luke 17:3

3 προσεχετε εαυτοις εαν αμαρτη ο αδελφος σου επιτιμησον αυτω και εαν μετανοηση αφες αυτω

3 So watch what you do! "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

Luke 18:15

15 προσεφερον δε αυτω και τα βρεφη ινα αυτων απτηται ιδοντες δε οι μαθηται επετιμων αυτοις

15 Some people brought their babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. The disciples saw them and scolded them for doing so

2Tim. 4:2

2 κηρυξον τον λογον επιστηθι ευκαιρως ακαιρως ελεγξον επιτιμησον παρακαλεσον εν παση μακροθυμια και διδαχη

2 to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience.

3) tell someone to stop speaking (13) – a special case of sense 2.

Matt . 16:22

22 και προσλαβομενος αυτον ο πετρος ηρξατο επιτιμαν αυτω λεγων ιλεως σοι κυριε ου μη εσται σοι τουτο

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "That must never happen to you!"

Matt. 20:31

31 ο δε οχλος επετιμησεν αυτοις ινα σιωπησωσιν οι δε μειζον εκραξαν λεγοντες | κυριε ελεησον ημας υιε δαυιδ

31 The crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on us , sir !"

Mark 1:25

25 και επετιμησεν αυτω ο ιησους λεγων φιμωθητι και εξελθε εξ αυτου

25 Jesus ordered the spirit, "Be quiet, and come out of the man!"

Mark 3:11-12

11 και τα πνευματα τα ακαθαρτα οταν αυτον εθεωρουν προσεπιπτον αυτω και εκραζον λεγοντες οτι συ ει ο υιος του θεου 12 και πολλα επετιμα αυτοις ινα μη αυτον φανερον ποιησωσιν

11 And whenever the people who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, "You are the Son of God!" 12 Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was.

Mark 8:32

32 και παρρησια τον λογον ελαλει και προσλαβομενος ο πετρος αυτον ηρξατο επιτιμαν αυτω

32 He made this very clear to them. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Mark 8:33

33 ο δε επιστραφεις και ιδων τους μαθητας αυτου επετιμησεν πετρω και λεγει υπαγε οπισω μου σατανα οτι ου φρονεις τα του θεου αλλα τα των ανθρωπων

33 But Jesus turned around, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. "Get away from me, Satan," he said. "Your thoughts don't come from God but from human nature!"

Mark 10:47-48

47 και ακουσας οτι ιησους ο ναζαρηνος εστιν ηρξατο κραζειν και λεγειν υιε δαυιδ ιησου ελεησον με 48 και επετιμων αυτω πολλοι ινα σιωπηση ο δε πολλω μαλλον εκραζεν υιε δαυιδ ελεησον με

47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!" 48 Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Luke 4:35

35 και επετιμησεν αυτω ο ιησους λεγων φιμωθητι και εξελθε απ αυτου και ριψαν αυτον το δαιμονιον εις το μεσον εξηλθεν απ αυτου μηδεν βλαψαν αυτον

35 Jesus ordered the spirit, "Be quiet and come out of the man!" The demon threw the man down in front of them and went out of him without doing him any harm.

Luke 4:41

41 εξηρχετο δε και δαιμονια απο πολλων κραυγαζοντα και λεγοντα οτι συ ει ο υιος του θεου και επιτιμων ουκ εια αυτα λαλειν οτι ηδεισαν τον χριστον αυτον ειναι

41 Demons also went out from many people, screaming, "You are the Son of God!" Jesus gave the demons an order and would not let them speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

Luke 9:54-55

54 ιδοντες δε οι μαθηται ιακωβος και ιωαννης ειπαν κυριε θελεις ειπωμεν πυρ καταβηναι απο του ουρανου και αναλωσαι αυτους 55 στραφεις δε επετιμησεν αυτοις

54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55 Jesus turned and rebuked them.

Luke 18:39

39 και οι προαγοντες επετιμων αυτω ινα σιγηση αυτος δε πολλω μαλλον εκραζεν υιε δαυιδ ελεησον με

39 The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on me !"

Luke 19:39

39 και τινες των φαρισαιων απο του οχλου ειπαν προς αυτον διδασκαλε επιτιμησον τοις μαθηταις σου

39 Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. "Teacher," they said, "command your disciples to be quiet!"

Luke 23:39-40

39 εις δε των κρεμασθεντων κακουργων εβλασφημει αυτον λεγων ουχι συ ει ο χριστος σωσον σεαυτον και ημας 40 αποκριθεις δε ο ετερος επιτιμων αυτω εφη ουδε φοβη συ τον θεον οτι εν τω αυτω κριματι ει

39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" 40 The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, "Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did.

4) say something bad to someone (1)

Jude 1:9

9 ο δε μιχαηλ ο αρχαγγελος οτε τω διαβολω διακρινομενος διελεγετο περι του μωυσεως σωματος ουκ ετολμησεν κρισιν επενεγκειν βλασφημιας αλλα ειπεν επιτιμησαι σοι κυριος

9 Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

The Value of Dictionaries

On Tuesday I’ll be turning back the first drafts of the semester-long paper project in my ethnohistory class. The biggest teaching point associated with that assignment is getting the students to evaluate their sources critically. It’s a history class — don’t ask why a linguist is teaching this class, it’s a long story — so the students have to be taught to ask the most basic question: how do they know that they can trust a source. Is the writer a witness to the events? That would make it a primary source, which is as good as we can do. But sometimes you can’t find anything from the eyewitnesses and you have to settle for the newspaper accounts. But being careful only to use primary sources or contemporary news accounts, you still have to worry about how to read past the prejudices, opinions, and worldview of the writer.

The trouble is most of the time most of us don’t have the time or the access to documents to enable us to assemble and read the primary sources for ourselves. So we look to authorities, to the folks who have read the primary sources. What they write, however, are secondary sources. Of course, secondary sources, too, have prejudices and opinions, but the problem is that their opinions are even harder to sort out from the facts than those of the primary sources. That’s because we ask of the authorities that they synthesize the primary sources into a story. Much of the time we take the stories of the secondary sources as gospel truth and don’t ask the hard questions: how does he/she know that? Can we trust that his/her story is the real story?

Wait. What does all this have to do Bible translation?

Well, when we get into arguments about what words mean, we don’t much pay attention to the difference between primary and secondary sources, and that gets us into trouble.

Let me explain.

In the case of translation, what constitutes a primary source?

Ideally, a natively bilingual speaker. But unfortunately for us, there never were any natively bilingual speakers for Roman era Koine and 21st century English.

So if we can’t get such a person, what’s the next best thing? What's the primary source in that case.

Interestingly enough, it’s the text itself. Combine the text with early translations as a way to triangulate on the original meaning and you’re well more than halfway there. (This makes dealing with ancient texts the analogue of doing oral history, not a trivial task, but most definitely do-able.)

Oh, you say, that sounds all very approximate. Can we have any confidence in such a source?

Actually, yes we can, because of one thing — language is highly redundant — the standard figure is 50%. It’s redundancy that enables children to learn language by observing how people use language in context. That same redundancy allows me to mimic what children do in learning a language when I approach a body of ancient texts. Give me a large enough corpus (a collection of texts in a single language) with a translation that simply gets me to a close approximation of what the text means, and I can, by dint of great effort, tell you what all but the rarest expressions in the corpus mean with great precision and confidence.

The NT plus Roman era writers and the Roman era papyrii constitute a big enough corpus to work with. Throw in that we have a very similar, but more archaic variety of Greek in the LXX and that there is a lot known about the older (but much different) forms of Greek from 500 BC on, and we are in a very, very good place to use this corpus as a primary source for figuring out what words and expressions in the NT mean to a high degree of accuracy. (You can find an example of me doing this in a series of earlier posts regarding the word ἐπιτιμάω.)

But wait! you say, wouldn’t it just be simpler to use the dictionary? After all, the dictionary makers did what I just described. They're the experts. They poured through the corpus and figured out what the words mean.

True, but we have to remember that their work still has the status of a secondary source. The problem for us is that almost all of that work, reading the texts and assembling examples of distinct senses, was done in 19th century.

You see, for us to use those dictionaries properly, we have to take into account the fact that even if they got the translations right for 19th century English, those translations might not be right for 21st century English.

A good word study in the original texts, carefully done trumps the dictionary every time.

ἄνθρωπος is a case in point.

There is much ink spilt in this blog about the meaning of ἄνθρωπος and its Hebrew equivalent adam (אדם), most recently relating to an unnecessary neologism, adamkind. It’s a topic that comes up over and over when one talks about accuracy in translation.

Reading the texts, one finds absolutely convincing examples which make it clear that from Homeric Greek on, ἄνθρωπος refers to humans without explicit reference to maleness. Some key examples and discussion can be found here particularly in the comments.

So why does the ESV insist on translating both adam (אדם) or ἄνθρωπος ‘man’?

Because its translators don’t recognize that English has changed.

In Liddell and Scott’s time one did not say human being, one said man. (Liddell and Scott is the standard reference dictionary for Greek.) Liddell and Scott’s entry for ἄνθρωπος begins:

ἄνθρωπος, ἡ, Att. crasis ἄνθρωπος, Ion. ὥνθρωπος, for ὁ ἄνθρ-:--

A. man, both as a generic term and of individuals, Hom. etc., opp. gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ' ἀνθρώπων Il.5.442 , etc.; πρὸς ἠοίων ἢ ἑσπερίων ἀνθρώπων the men of the east or of the west, Od.8.29; even of the dead in the Isles of the Blest, ib.4.565; κόμπος οὐ κατ' ἄνθρωπον A.Th.425 , cf. S.Aj.761.

2. Pl. uses it both with and without the Art. to denote man generically, ὁ ἄ. θείας μετέσχε μοίρας Prt.322a ; οὓτω . . εὐδαιμονέστατος γίγνεται ἄ. R.619b , al.; ὁ ἄ. the ideal man, humanity, ἀπώλεσας τὸν ἄ., οὐκ ἐπλήρωσας τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν Arr.Epict.2.9.3.

3. in pl., mankind, ἀνθρώπων . . ἀνδρῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν Il.9.134 ; ἐν τῷ μακρῷ . . ἀνθρώπων χρόνψ S.Ph.306 ; ἐξἀνθρώπων γίγνεσθαι depart this life, Paus.4.26.5, cf. Philostr.VA8.31.

etc.

But if you look through all of the glosses of compounds of ἄνθρωπος in Liddell and Scott, when the gloss is adjectival it is given as human, not male, as in the examples below.

ἀνθρωπο-πᾰθής , ές,

A. with human feelings, ib.182, al. Adv. –θῶς, λέγεσθαι, of the gods, Hermog. Id.2.10.

ἀνθρωπό-νοος , ον, contr. ἀνθρωπό-νους , ουν,

A. with human understanding, intelligent, πίθηκοι Ael.NA16.10 : Sup. -νούστατος Str.15.1.29.

Not surprisingly, Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, and Danker, the standard reference for the Koine of Christian literature, which was revised in the middle of the 20th century (1958-1979) has the more modern usage in its gloss:

ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ (Hom. + inscr., pap., LXX, EN., EP. Arist., Philo, Joseph., Test. 12 Patr.; loanw. in rabb.) human being, man [pg. 68].

(It probably doesn’t hurt either that this lexicon was developed starting with a translation from the German. German has a word Mensch with the primary sense meaning exactly what ἄνθρωπος in its primary sense means, namely, ‘human being’.)

It isn’t until you get down to BAGD’s sense group 2: “in special combinations and meanings” that you get

b. the context requires such mngs. as—a. man, adult male [a list of citations follows, pg. 68]

My point?

If the complementarians really understood what shaky ground textual ground they stand on, the whole debate would be different.

Are we ready to run?

This past weekend was the board retreat. We’ve just called our interim pastor to be our senior pastor and he’s interested in leading a church that doesn’t burn its leaders out. To that end he had us read The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero.

I read it.

Then I lay on the floor and bled.

You’d think that if you’ve gotten to the age of 61, raised three children who are successful or well on their way to success in their chosen careers, if you are still married after 35 years, have served two three-year stints as church chairman (which in our church means you’ve been elected six times), and if you have served as an associate dean, and have been elected as the vice president/president elect of your professional society (SSILA) then maybe, just maybe, you’d score higher than emotional adolescent in some category.

Not so.

According to Scazzero, I’m at best an emotional adolescent.

And the trouble is, he’s right. I’ve got so many dents and so many masks. The outside world — including my small group — doesn’t have clue to how insecure and emotionally needy I am. My wife only half knows.

About half of Scazzero’s measures of emotional maturity place me somewhere between adolescent and adult.

Oh, great!

But the other half his measures reveal that there are things I just haven’t worked through. I'm still barely above child. He groups the aspects of emotional maturity together and shines an unrelenting klieg light on the fact that my partial maturity in one area is complemented by serious immaturity in a closely related area.

Now the new pastor wants all of us on the board to work on these things. Ouch. (Well, that’s a good ouch, but it’s an ouch nonetheless.)

Why all the confession? and what does this have to do with Bible translation?

Well, plenty.

You see, at the same time I was finishing The Emotionally Healthy Church, my wife started the new Anne Lamott book Grace (Eventually). It turns out the two books are about the very same thing — learning to come to maturity in Christ.

Mary didn’t make any connection at all. It was completely serendipitous. We both love Anne Lamott. Mary saw that her new book just came in at the library and took it out.

The difference between Scazzero and Lamott is that Scazzero is technical and analytical. Even when he includes anecdotes, they are spare and as much pointed as parabolic.

Lamott just tells stories about how God’s grace looks in her life. They’re all spang on truthful, and therefore sometimes painful. But they are deeply parabolic. You have to figure out how to connect them to your life.

Scazzero is Paul telling us: “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.” (HCSB)

ἄρα ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς ἡ δὲ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος Χριστοῦ (Rom. 10:17)

Lamott is Jesus telling us: “Still [other seeds] fell on good ground and produced a crop that increased 30, 60, and 100 times what was sown.” (HCSB)

καὶ ἄλλα ἔπεσεν εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν καλήν καὶ ἐδίδου καρπὸν ἀναβαίνοντα καὶ αὐξανόμενα καὶ ἔφερεν ἓν τριάκοντα καὶ ἓν ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἓν ἑκατόν (Mark 4:8)

Part of the conversation about translation between J. K. Gayle and John Hobbins, on the one hand, and us (or at least me) on the other is that I’ve been mostly focused on getting analytical stuff right — the places where there isn’t much in the way of layered meaning and deep secondary meanings that depend on the form of the original, where there isn’t much poetry or literary flair, i.e., most of the NT.

I’m interested in getting translators to give equal treatment to οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ‘the [masculine] Jewish ones’ and ἡ Ἰουδαία ‘the [feminine] Jewish thing’, which means translate ‘the Jewish leaders’ on the same contextual principles that they use to translate ‘Judea/the province of Judea’. (See this post.)

I'm interested in getting a pre-theological rendering of ἄνθρωπος ‘human (being), person’, instead of “conveniently” translating it ‘man’ in just those places where it can be used in the complementarian debate. (See this post.) (In fact I’m interested in getting theologians to butt out of the translation process all together. The text is primary. Theology is derivative. I’m apparently not alone in this opinion. )

I’m interested in getting the unnecessary (and sometimes misleading) church-speak out of translations, like the use of ‘rebuke’ for ἐπιτιμάω, which really means ‘tell or ask someone to stop doing something’. (See these posts.)

John Hobbins says that Jobes (and I) are only half right to apply standards to Bible translation that are used for functional translations — simultaneous interpretation, EU document translation — because the Bible isn’t just a functional document.

And he’s right.

Our point ... well, my point is that these are minimal standards. This is the baseline. We should have translations that are at least as accurate as these measures demand.

I’m not ready to talk about getting suitable solutions for the literary stuff until we get the translations of the first order meanings up to the baseline. (Notice that the HCSB translations above, about the best of all the ones I looked at, are still pretty clunky.)

John and Kurk Gayle are saying we need to run. I’m thinking half the time we’re not even crawling all that well.

ἐπιτιμάω - Part V

Since we have worked through all the synonyms of ἐπιτιμάω which have to do with telling people what to do and what not to do, it is time to turn to the question of how to speak sharply to people, i.e., the thing that the core meaning of the English word rebuke emphasizes. For telling people things they don’t want to hear, Louw & Nida list the words, ἐπιπλήσσω, ὀνειδίζω, ἐμβριμάομαι, νουθετέω,and ἐλέγχω (See Rebuke 33.417-422). ἐλέγχω is an interesting enough word that I will dedicate a post to it alone; in the rest of this post I will address the other four words.

I should make it clear at the outset that I disagree with the interpretation that all these verbs have the emotionally negative component that is implicit in the gloss ‘rebuke’. I believe that some of them are neutral. The neutral ones are, I believe, misread because they occur in contexts where the communication has a negative effect on the hearers. As has been my practice throughout this series, I will look at the words one by one.

Let me dispense with ἐπιπλήσσω first. It is a hapax legomenon in the NT. In classical Greek it meant something like ‘to criticize (harshly)’. (LSJ say ‘chastise’ esp. with words.) But there are plenty of words in the NT that mean ‘criticize’ (ανακρινω, διακρινομαι, ανταποκρινομαι, and μωμαομαι). The context of the one verse in which it appears (I Tim. 5:1) gives a clue to the NT meaning. (As is my custom, the translations are the GNB and the suggestions are revised from the basic GNB translation.)

1Tim. 5:1

1 πρεσβυτερω μη επιπληξης αλλα παρακαλει ως πατερα νεωτερους ως αδελφους

1 Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

Better: 1 Do not speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

Here ἐπιπλήσσω seems to focus on the severity of the speech act, not its content. This makes all the more sense if the metaphor of striking (πληγ-) is still active in NT times. I think this is likely the case. πλήσσω occurs with a literal reading in Rev. 8:21.

Even though ἐπιπλήσσω occurs only once in the NT, its appearance is important, because if ἐπιπλήσσω focuses on speaking harshly, then it is significant that the writers of the NT DO NOT use ἐπιπλήσσω much. I’ll have more to say about that in a later post.

Now let us turn to the next word which clearly represents speaking harshly to someone, ὀνειδίζω. LSJ use the word reproach a lot in their definition of the various words related to ὀνειδίζω. They also cite the early modern English idiom cast in one’s teeth. What’s missing in their definition is that ὀνειδίζω is something you do face to face with the person you ὀνειδίζεις. It occurs nine times.

Clearly face-to-face (4)

Matt. 27:44

44 το δ αυτο και οι λησται οι συσταυρωθεντες συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

44 Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

Mark 15:32

32 ο χριστος ο βασιλευς ισραηλ καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου ινα ιδωμεν και πιστευσωμεν και οι συνεσταυρωμενοι συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

32 Let us see the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him!" And the two who were crucified with Jesus insulted him also.

Mark 16:14

14 υστερον ανακειμενοις αυτοις τοις ενδεκα εφανερωθη και ωνειδισεν την απιστιαν αυτων και σκληροκαρδιαν οτι τοις θεασαμενοις αυτον εγηγερμενον ουκ επιστευσαν

14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Rom. 15:3

3 και γαρ ο χριστος ουχ εαυτω ηρεσεν αλλα καθως γεγραπται οι ονειδισμοι των ονειδιζοντων σε επεπεσαν επ εμε

3 For Christ did not please himself. Instead, as the scripture says, "The insults which are hurled at you have fallen on me."

Ambiguous, but probably face-to-face (5)

Matt. 5:11

11 μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου

11 "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

Matt. 11:20

20 τοτε ηρξατο ονειδιζειν τας πολεις εν αις εγενοντο αι πλεισται δυναμεις αυτου οτι ου μετενοησαν

20 The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.

Luke 6:22

22 μακαριοι εστε οταν μισησωσιν υμας οι ανθρωποι και οταν αφορισωσιν υμας και ονειδισωσιν και εκβαλωσιν το ονομα υμων ως πονηρον ενεκα του υιου του ανθρωπου

22 "Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man!

Jam. 1:5

5 ει δε τις υμων λειπεται σοφιας αιτειτω παρα του διδοντος θεου πασιν απλως και μη ονειδιζοντος και δοθησεται αυτω

5 But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. (lit. not scolding)

1Pe. 4:14

14 ει ονειδιζεσθε εν ονοματι χριστου μακαριοι οτι το της δοξης και το του θεου πνευμα εφ υμας αναπαυεται

14 Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

The range of English words that imply face-to-face interaction of this sort include: scold, bawl out, dress down, reprimand, tell off, yell at, etc. and, with further implications about the content of the communication, humiliate, taunt, and belittle, among others. Words that are typically, but not necessarily, face-to-face include insult, revile, put down, berate, deride. ὀνειδίζω seems to have both these senses, one which is about the unpleasantness of the communication as a whole, as in Mark 16:14, and the other of which is implies that the thing said is nasty, as in Matt. 5:11.

Mark 16:14

14 υστερον ανακειμενοις αυτοις τοις ενδεκα εφανερωθη και ωνειδισεν την απιστιαν αυτων και σκληροκαρδιαν οτι τοις θεασαμενοις αυτον εγηγερμενον ουκ επιστευσαν

14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Better: 14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He bawled them out, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Matt. 5:11

11 μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου

11 "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

Or perhaps: 11 "Happy are you when people belittle you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

In glossing Mark 16:14, bawl out seems better than scold to me, because scolding seems to be prototypically between a parent (or someone in loco parentis) and a child. What adults with appropriate authority do is bawl out their underlings or maybe dress them down. Yell at is a general word. It works between social equals, but it could be used here. (Bringing up the point that some people will object that Jesus wasn’t like that. But that’s a matter for a later post.) Reprimand doesn’t work because it implies an official act. It’s what bosses do to their employees or military officers do to their subordinates to put the misdeed on record.

Next we come to ἐμβριμάομαι. This is an interesting word. In classical Greek it referred to forceful exhaling of animals, i.e., ‘snort’, based on a root that means ‘roar’. It could refer to indignation. Think of it as ‘harumph’. It’s used in this sense in the NT.

Mark 14:5

5 ηδυνατο γαρ τουτο το μυρον πραθηναι επανω δηναριων τριακοσιων και δοθηναι τοις πτωχοις και ενεβριμωντο αυτη

5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!" And they criticized her harshly.

Better: 5 “It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” They were indignant with her.

And more generally it can be used to indicate the forcefulness of a speech act.

Matt. 9:30

30 και ηνεωχθησαν αυτων οι οφθαλμοι και ενεβριμηθη αυτοις ο ιησους λεγων ορατε μηδεις γινωσκετω

30 and their sight was restored. Jesus spoke sternly to them, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

Better: 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus told them in no uncertain terms, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

But ἐμβριμάομαι seems never to have completely lost the sense that it had to do with how one expels air. Unless you think of it in this way, it is a complete mystery as to why John can use it to convey that a person has been deeply affected by the situation. I’d argue that it actually means ‘he sighed’.

John 11:33

33 ιησους ουν ως ειδεν αυτην κλαιουσαν και τους συνελθοντας αυτη ιουδαιους κλαιοντας ενεβριμησατο τω πνευματι και εταραξεν εαυτον

33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.

Better: 33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; he sighed deeply and was moved to his very core.

Notice that if you read ἐμβριμάομαι this way, this verse is not redundant.

Now let us turn to the last word for this post, νουθετέω. I’ll argue that νουθετέω is not inherently negative. Etymologically νουθετέω means ‘put [something] in someone’s mind’ or in the English idiom ‘put someone in mind of’. From there it comes to mean ‘warn, admonish’ which is how it is commonly used in Classical Greek. The semantic shift would be: ‘give someone information’ > ‘give someone information for a reason’ > ‘give someone information that they need to take into account’ > ‘give someone information that they need to take into account or something bad will happen’. LSJ also cite places where it means ‘give someone information that they need to take into account’. Their gloss is ‘advise concerning’.

In the NT νουθετέω occurs six times in contexts where it seems more to have to do with teaching than with warning or advising. Two of the eight times it occurs, it is explicitly about teaching, as shown by the fact it is conjoined with διδασκω.

Col. 1:28

28 ον ημεις καταγγελλομεν νουθετουντες παντα ανθρωπον και διδασκοντες παντα ανθρωπον εν παση σοφια ινα παραστησωμεν παντα ανθρωπον τελειον εν χριστω

28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Better: 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we instruct and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Col. 3:16

16 ο λογος του χριστου ενοικειτω εν υμιν πλουσιως εν παση σοφια διδασκοντες και νουθετουντες εαυτους ψαλμοις υμνοις ωδαις πνευματικαις εν τη χαριτι αδοντες εν ταις καρδιαις υμων τω θεω

16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

The other four times it occurs where the context suggests teaching or instruction rather than warning are as follows: (N.B., all of these cases are translated accordingly in the GNB.)

Acts 20:31

31 διο γρηγορειτε μνημονευοντες οτι τριετιαν νυκτα και ημεραν ουκ επαυσαμην μετα δακρυων νουθετων ενα εκαστον

31 Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

Rom. 15:14

14 πεπεισμαι δε αδελφοι μου και αυτος εγω περι υμων οτι και αυτοι μεστοι εστε αγαθωσυνης πεπληρωμενοι πασης της γνωσεως δυναμενοι και αλληλους νουθετειν

14 My friends: I myself feel sure that you are full of goodness, that you have all knowledge, and that you are able to teach one another.

1 Cor. 4:14

14 ουκ εντρεπων υμας γραφω ταυτα αλλ ως τεκνα μου αγαπητα νουθετων

14 I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.

1Th. 5:12

12 ερωτωμεν δε υμας αδελφοι ειδεναι τους κοπιωντας εν υμιν και προισταμενους υμων εν κυριω και νουθετουντας υμας

12 We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life.

Note that in this last verse, 1Th. 5:12, Paul also uses νουθετέω conjoined with a verb, προισταμαι, in the same general semantic sphere as teaching, again suggesting a reading of teaching rather than warning.

The remaining two instances are translated ‘warn’ in the GNB.

1Th. 5:14

14 παρακαλουμεν δε υμας αδελφοι νουθετειτε τους ατακτους παραμυθεισθε τους ολιγοψυχους αντεχεσθε των ασθενων μακροθυμειτε προς παντας

14 We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

2Th. 3:15

15 και μη ως εχθρον ηγεισθε αλλα νουθετειτε ως αδελφον

15 But do not treat them as enemies; instead, warn them as believers.

But either of these contexts would make equally good sense rendered as teach, if the particular kind of teaching were focused on proper behavior rather than on head knowledge. (This is also the conclusion of L&N, footnote pg. 414.) Such an interpretation would make perfect sense for the conjunction of νουθετέω with διδασκω, as Paul uses it in Colossians. Teach the doctrines of the faith (διδασκω) and their practical application (νουθετέω). However, to track this down completely, a full analysis of all the verbs of teaching (διδασκω, παιδευω, κατηχεω, σωφρονιζω, εντρεφω, et al.) would be necessary, but that is too far afield for a study of ἐπιτιμάω.

Appendix

ἐμβριμάομαι

Matt. 9:30

30 και ηνεωχθησαν αυτων οι οφθαλμοι και ενεβριμηθη αυτοις ο ιησους λεγων ορατε μηδεις γινωσκετω

30 and their sight was restored. Jesus spoke sternly to them, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

Mark 1:43

43 και εμβριμησαμενος αυτω ευθυς εξεβαλεν αυτον

43 Then Jesus spoke sternly to him and sent him away at once,

Mark 14:5

5 ηδυνατο γαρ τουτο το μυρον πραθηναι επανω δηναριων τριακοσιων και δοθηναι τοις πτωχοις και ενεβριμωντο αυτη

5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!" And they criticized her harshly.

John 11:33

33 ιησους ουν ως ειδεν αυτην κλαιουσαν και τους συνελθοντας αυτη ιουδαιους κλαιοντας ενεβριμησατο τω πνευματι και εταραξεν εαυτον

33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.

John 11:38

38 ιησους ουν παλιν εμβριμωμενος εν εαυτω ερχεται εις το μνημειον ην δε σπηλαιον και λιθος επεκειτο επ αυτω

38 Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance.

ἐπιπλήσσω

1Tim. 5:1

1 πρεσβυτερω μη επιπληξης αλλα παρακαλει ως πατερα νεωτερους ως αδελφους

1 Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

ὀνειδέζω

Matt. 5:11

11 μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου

11 "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

Matt. 11:20

20 τοτε ηρξατο ονειδιζειν τας πολεις εν αις εγενοντο αι πλεισται δυναμεις αυτου οτι ου μετενοησαν

20 The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.

Matt. 27:44

44 το δ αυτο και οι λησται οι συσταυρωθεντες συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

44 Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

Mark 15:32

32 ο χριστος ο βασιλευς ισραηλ καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου ινα ιδωμεν και πιστευσωμεν και οι συνεσταυρωμενοι συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

32 Let us see the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him!" And the two who were crucified with Jesus insulted him also.

Mark 16:14

14 υστερον ανακειμενοις αυτοις τοις ενδεκα εφανερωθη και ωνειδισεν την απιστιαν αυτων και σκληροκαρδιαν οτι τοις θεασαμενοις αυτον εγηγερμενον ουκ επιστευσαν

14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Luke 6:22

22 μακαριοι εστε οταν μισησωσιν υμας οι ανθρωποι και οταν αφορισωσιν υμας και ονειδισωσιν και εκβαλωσιν το ονομα υμων ως πονηρον ενεκα του υιου του ανθρωπου

22 "Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man!

Rom. 15:3

3 και γαρ ο χριστος ουχ εαυτω ηρεσεν αλλα καθως γεγραπται οι ονειδισμοι των ονειδιζοντων σε επεπεσαν επ εμε

3 For Christ did not please himself. Instead, as the scripture says, "The insults which are hurled at you have fallen on me."

Jam. 1:5

5 ει δε τις υμων λειπεται σοφιας αιτειτω παρα του διδοντος θεου πασιν απλως και μη ονειδιζοντος και δοθησεται αυτω

5 But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.

1Pe. 4:14

14 ει ονειδιζεσθε εν ονοματι χριστου μακαριοι οτι το της δοξης και το του θεου πνευμα εφ υμας αναπαυεται

14 Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

νουθετέω

Acts 20:31

31 διο γρηγορειτε μνημονευοντες οτι τριετιαν νυκτα και ημεραν ουκ επαυσαμην μετα δακρυων νουθετων ενα εκαστον

31 Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

Rom. 15:14

14 πεπεισμαι δε αδελφοι μου και αυτος εγω περι υμων οτι και αυτοι μεστοι εστε αγαθωσυνης πεπληρωμενοι πασης | της | [της] | γνωσεως δυναμενοι και αλληλους νουθετειν

14 My friends: I myself feel sure that you are full of goodness, that you have all knowledge, and that you are able to teach one another.

1 Cor. 4:14

14 ουκ εντρεπων υμας γραφω ταυτα αλλ ως τεκνα μου αγαπητα νουθετων

14 I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.

Col. 1:28

28 ον ημεις καταγγελλομεν νουθετουντες παντα ανθρωπον και διδασκοντες παντα ανθρωπον εν παση σοφια ινα παραστησωμεν παντα ανθρωπον τελειον εν χριστω

28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Col. 3:16

16 ο λογος του χριστου ενοικειτω εν υμιν πλουσιως εν παση σοφια διδασκοντες και νουθετουντες εαυτους ψαλμοις υμνοις ωδαις πνευματικαις εν | | [τη] | χαριτι αδοντες εν ταις καρδιαις υμων τω θεω

16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

1Th. 5:12

12 ερωτωμεν δε υμας αδελφοι ειδεναι τους κοπιωντας εν υμιν και προισταμενους υμων εν κυριω και νουθετουντας υμας

12 We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life.

1Th. 5:14

14 παρακαλουμεν δε υμας αδελφοι νουθετειτε τους ατακτους παραμυθεισθε τους ολιγοψυχους αντεχεσθε των ασθενων μακροθυμειτε προς παντας

14 We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

2Th. 3:15

15 και μη ως εχθρον ηγεισθε αλλα νουθετειτε ως αδελφον

15 But do not treat them as enemies; instead, warn them as believers.