Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Use of past perfect in Bible verses
Hi. In 2 kING 23:18 & 19 of the New Internation Version of the Bible, it is written:
18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come form Samaria.
19Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the LORD to anger.
Rewriting/copying them over with numbered references:
18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who 1) had come form Samaria.
19Just as he 2) had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel 3) had built in the towns of Samaria that 4) had provoked the LORD to anger.
The thing I know little about the use of past perfect is that its should be used to avoid confusion over the time or action sequences. Having said that I feel nos. 1 and 2 are clear, so the use past tenses will be OK, but nos. 3 and 4 seem to demand the use of past perfect. The reason I can come up with is that the actions noted by the past perfect use had definite time marks that indicate when those action clearly took place.
18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come form Samaria.
19Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the LORD to anger.
Rewriting/copying them over with numbered references:
18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who 1) had come form Samaria.
19Just as he 2) had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel 3) had built in the towns of Samaria that 4) had provoked the LORD to anger.
The thing I know little about the use of past perfect is that its should be used to avoid confusion over the time or action sequences. Having said that I feel nos. 1 and 2 are clear, so the use past tenses will be OK, but nos. 3 and 4 seem to demand the use of past perfect. The reason I can come up with is that the actions noted by the past perfect use had definite time marks that indicate when those action clearly took place.
Top answer
I think your analysis is right on. In 1 and 2, the simple past would be fine. 3 and 4 were clearly separate times from the past, ie not the recent past.
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I think your analysis is right on. In 1 and 2, the simple past would be fine.
3 and 4 were clearly separate times from the past, ie not the recent past.
3 and 4 were clearly separate times from the past, ie not the recent past.
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Hi. Thank you. The word "form" in verse 18 of the prementioned Bible chapter 23 should be spelt "from." So it should be this as corrected. Sorry.
I wrote:
18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had comeform from Samaria.
19Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defil
I wrote:
18"Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come
19Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defil
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