Ἐξίσταντο: how do we get from 'I stand' to 'I am amazed'

ἐξίσταντο δὲ καὶ ἐθαύμαζον λέγοντες Οὐχὶ ἰδοὺ πάντες οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ λαλοῦντες Γαλιλαῖοι;

they were all amazed and wondered, asking, "All of these people who are speaking are Galileans, aren't they?

Acts 2:7 begins with the verb form ἐξίσταντο, which is parsed as the 3-P imperfect middle/passive indicative of ἐξίστημι.

I say 'middle/passive' because the imperfect, as part of the present system, has identical forms in the middle and passive; but by sense, ἐξίσταντο is a middle.

Ἐξίστημι is a compound verb, formed from the prepositional prefix ἐκ- / ἐξ- ('from, out from') and the root verb ἵστημι.

Ἵστημι is a difficult verb, with a basic meanings of 'stand (something) up', and 'stand (yourself) up, be standing'.  It is used over 150 times in the New Testament, in a large variety of forms. 

Consider the following: 

(1)  καὶ ἔστησεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ

and he set /  stood him on the pinnacle of the temple  (Matthew 4:5)

The form of ἵστημι here is ἔστησεν; an aorist active indicative.  It is transitive, meaning that the subject ('he' - the devil) performed an action ('set / stood') affecting someone or something else as a direct object ('him' - Jesus).

The direct object of a transitive verb is generally in the accusative case, as it is here: αὐτόν.

Now compare that use to this:

(2)  καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἑστὼς παρὰ τὴν λίμνην Γεννησαρέτ

and he (Jesus) was standing by the lake of Gennesaret   (Luke 5:1)

Here, ἑστὼς is a perfect active participle (masculine singular nominative) of ἵστημι. In the perfect this verb is intransitive and refers to a completed action with ongoing consequences; i.e., at some point Jesus stood up, and he is now standing. 

 * * * * * 

So what about ἐξίσταντο in Acts 2:7?  The usual translations for most of the seventeen uses of this verb in the New Testament are some version of 'to be amazed, to be astonished', etc.

How does 'amazed' relate to 'stand'?

The prefix ἐξ- seems to indicate that you are standing 'outside' of yourself in some way.  English has a similar idiom: 'I am beside myself'.  Although it doesn't correspond exactly to 'I am astonished', you get the basic idea, which also explains the middle voice.

Acts 2:7-8, by phrase, with a few comments on finding subjects

A crowd has just heard the disciples speaking in different dialects or languages.

7  Ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες . . . . They were amazed all

καὶ ἐθαύμαζον, . . . . and they marveled

λέγοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους, . . . .  saying to each other

Οὐκ ἰδοὺ πάντες . . . .  look, not all  (word-by-word: not look all)

οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ λαλοῦντες . . . . these are the ones speaking

Γαλιλαῖοι; . . . . Galileans?

8  Καὶ πῶς ἡμεῖς ἀκούομεν ἕκαστος . . . and how we we hear each

τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ ἡμῶν . . . . in the same / our own dialect of us 

ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθημεν; . . . . in which we were born?

Stunned and amazed all, they asked, 

"All of these people who are speaking are Galileans, aren't they?

And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

Let me emphasize: one key to reading the New Testament in koine Greek is to find the subject of each phrase.  To find the subject, we usually look for nouns, pronouns, substantive adjectives, etc., in the nominative case.

As an example, in verse 7 we start with a verb: Ἐξίσταντο, 'they were amazed'.

Who was amazed?  The closest nominative plural is πάντες  ('all'), followed eventually by the participle λέγοντες ('saying').  

So all the listeners were amazed and they were all saying (something).

But then we have another πάντες.  And another verb, εἰσιν, which is immediately followed by οἱ λαλοῦντες and Γαλιλαῖοι.

Πάντες, οἱ λαλοῦντες, and Γαλιλαῖοι are all in the nominative plural, and must be the subject of something, which is here clearly the verb εἰσιν.  So the preceding phrase,

"οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ λαλοῦντες" . . . . 'these are the ones speaking'

refers to the disciples, not the amazed listeners, with the disciples identified as Galileans.

In the next post, the verb form ἐξίσταντο.

New conjugation table available

I've been slow to add these, but there is a new conjugation table available: the present tense of the alpha-contract verb τιμάω.

Link for sound files

For those of you who are interested in the sound files from my New Testament Greek Workbooks, here is a general link:

https://soundcloud.com/ejpond

You can scroll through to find all of the sound files currently available.

Note that all readings are done using a modern Greek pronunciation.

Acts 2:5 - 2:6: What is an ἔθνος?

  In Acts 2:5 we read this:

ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους 

τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν 

devout men from every nation under the heaven

Note that, (1) this form of ἔθνος, τό is neuter singular genitive, although the ending looks like it could be masculine plural accusative,

(2) this word is, indeed, related to the English 'ethnic',

(3) almost every English translation that I have seen translates 'ἔθνους' as 'nation' in this verse, but

(4) another common translation is 'Gentiles', i.e., people who are not Jewish. 

Indeed, 'nation' might be misleading in the New Testament, as the modern conception of this word is something like 'the entity called France, or India, or Canada', and so on.  'Nations' have borders, their own governments, possibly their own language/s and monetary system, and so on. 

The usage in the New Testament does not seem to be 'nation' as in 'France', but 'nation' as in 'an established group of people, bound by ties of language and/or tradition, sometimes living together'.  The term often suggests a contrast between Jewish and non-Jewish groups.

There is a trace of this meaning in the term that was often (although not always) used for the head of state when Greek was a monarchy: the 'King of the Hellenes' - i.e., of a group of people - as opposed to the 'King of Greece' - i.e., of a nation.

'Τὸ ἔθνος' is known from Homer down, and it did not necessarily even refer to human beings:

τῶν δ᾽ ὥς τ᾽ ὀρνίθων πετεηνῶν ἔθνεα πολλὰ

χηνῶν ἢ γεράνων ἢ κύκνων δουλιχοδείρων

as many flocks of birds in flight,

cormorants or geese or swans, with necks outstretched . . .   (Iliad, 2: 459)

Vocabulary notes on Acts 2:5-6; What is a dialect?

In Acts 2:6 we have the phrase

ἤκουον εἷς ἕκαστος τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ λαλούντων αὐτῶν

they were hearing one each the own language being spoken of them

each one of them heard their own language being spoken 

The Greek ἡ διάλεκτος (note the feminine) is related to the English 'dialect'.  What exactly does it mean?

In English, a 'dialect' is commonly understood to be a sub-type of some language, but American linguistics professor John McWhorter says:

"The difference between a language and a dialect is mostly meaningless and entirely political."

Do my own slight oddities in English pronunciation and word choice - relics of a Minnesota childhood - constitute a dialect?  Probably not.  What about Norwegian and Swedish?  Some consider them dialects of 'modern Norse', but I'm not sure what Norwegians and Swedes think about that.

And what about Greek?  Most of the English translations of the phrase τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ use 'in his own language', but some use 'tongue', and a few 'dialect'.  

Without native speakers of koine at hand, it's difficult to know exactly how the phrase would have been understood.  I refer the reader to some of the commentary on this verse, here.

Note that ἡ διάλεκτος is related to the koine verb διαλέγομαι, which is translated in a variety of ways, including 'I converse, discuss, reason, ponder' and so on.  Διαλέγομαι itself is a compound verb, with the preposition διά and the root verb λέγω.

Acts 2:5- Acts 2:6, translated by phrase

Remember that in the beginning of Acts 2, the disciples were in one place and they heard a sound like a strong wind.

5 Ἦσαν δὲ εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ . . . there were in Jerusalem

κατοικοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, . . . . dwelling / inhabitant Judaeans

ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς . . . .  men devout

ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους . . . . from every nation 

τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν· . . . . of [those] under the heaven

6  γενομένης δὲ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης . . . . having happened the sound this

συνῆλθεν τὸ πλῆθος . . . .  they gathered the crowd

καὶ συνεχύθη,  . . . . and they were confused

ὅτι ἤκουον εἷς ἕκαστος . . . . because they were hearing one each

τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ . . . . their own language

λαλούντων αὐτῶν. . . . being spoken of them

5  Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

6  When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

Nomina sacra in Acts 2:4

Here's Acts 2:4 again, in koine and in English:

καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν πάντες Πνεύματος Ἁγίου . . . . and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit 

καὶ ἤρξαντο λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γλώσσαις . . . . and began to speak in other tongues 

καθὼς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐδίδου ἀποφθέγγεσθαι αὐτοῖς . . . . as the Spirit enabled them

 In the Codex Sinaiticus, Acts 2:4 shows two nomina sacra, both for versions of πνεῦμα.  See if you can pick them out below:

The last word in the second line is ΠΑΝΤΕC (πάντες), so 'πνεύματος ἁγίου' should follow on line three.  Where is it?

The first three letters on that line are ΠΝC with a centered overline;  this is the nomen sacrum for πνεῦματος, i.e., 'πνεῦμα' in the genitive.

In the sixth line (third from bottom in this snip) you can make out another, fainter overline, centered over the three letters ΠΝΑ.  This is the nomen sacrum for the nominative form πνεῦμα.

Here is the same verse in the Codex Vaticanus.  The first word of the verse (καί) is the last three letters of the first line.

The genitive 'πνεύματος' begins line 3; there is no nomen sacrum abbreviation, nor is 'πνεῦμα' abbreviated at the end of line 5, carrying over to line 6.

Nomina sacra: an introduction

Nomina sacra are abbreviations used in ancient manuscripts for certain names or titles; our interest is in the Greek abbreviations, although nomina sacra are also found in other ancient languages (e.g., Latin).

The singular is nomen sacrum, 'sacred name', from the Latin.  A nomen sacrum consists of a few letters of the source word, with an overline; one of the more familiar places to see them is in traditional iconography:

The letters to the top left are Ι C, the first and last letters of 'Ιησοῦς (lunate sigma).

The letters to the top right are Χ C, the first and letters of Χριστός.

*

Here is the familiar beginning of John's gospel, in the Codex Sinaiticus:

The Greek, in conventional typescript, is:

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος 

καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν 

πρὸς τὸν Θεόν καὶ 

Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος . . .

You can see two nomina sacra with overlines:

 1  for Θεόν (ΘΝ), on line 3, and

2  for Θεός (ΘC), on line 4.

 Notice that the first, ΘΝ, reflects the accusative case of the source word.

*

Below is a list of some of the nomina sacra found in the New Testament, showing the nominative form/s and the genitive form/s:

'Aποφθέγγομαι, from Acts 2:4

The last phrase of Acts 2:4 is

καθὼς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐδίδου ἀποφθέγγεσθαι αὐτοῖς

as the Spirit was giving to utter forth to them

Ἐδίδου is the 3-S, imperfect active indicative of the -μι verb δίδωμι: 'it was giving'.  By sense this verb can take an infinitive, and thus we have ἀποφθέγγεσθαι, the present middle/passive infinitive of ἀποφθέγγομαι, 'I speak out, I declare'.

it (the Spirit) was giving to them to speak out

I would call ἀποφθέγγεσθαι a deponent verb.  It is used three times in the New Testament, all of them in Acts.

Ἀποφθέγγομαι is a compound verb, with the preposition ἀπό preceding the root verb φθέγγομαι, 'I speak aloud, I utter'.  Φθέγγομαι itself is used only three times in the New Testament; once in Acts, and twice in 2 Peter.  

Note this use:

ὑποζύγιον ἄφωνον ἐν ἀνθρώπου φωνῇ φθεγξάμενον 

a speechless donkey spoke with human voice (2 Peter 2:16)

Although difficult to recognize - at least for me - the form φθεγζάμενον is, yes, a form of φθέγγομαι: an aorist middle (deponent) participle, neuter nominative singular.  Neuter because it refers to the donkey (ὑποζύγιον - i.e., 'under a yoke').

At first I was stumped as to any English relative of φθέγγομαι, but I then realized that a Greek relative of this verb is the noun φθόγγος, -ου, ὁ, 'a sound'.

And yes, the English 'diphthong' (literally, 'two sounds') comes from φθόγγος, although oddly - as best I can tell - 'diphtheria' comes from a completely different Greek word.

Acts 2:4: The noun πνεῦμα, 'spirit' - and what else?

καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν πάντες . . . . and they were filled all

πνεύματος ἁγίου,. . . . of spirit holy

καὶ ἤρξαντο λαλεῖν . . . . and they began to speak

ἑτέραις γλώσσαις . . . . other / different languages (tongues)

καθὼς τὸ πνεῦμα . . . . as the spirit

ἐδίδου ἀποφθέγγεσθαι αὐτοῖς.

 

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The noun πνεῦμα, τό, has a variety of related meanings, including 'wind, breath, spirit'.  

The first use of πνεῦμα that I was able to find comes from the pre-Socratic philosopher Anaximenes of Miletus (ca. 585-528 BC), who wrote:

οἷον ἡ ψυχή ἡ ἡμετέρα ἀὴρ οὖσα συγκρατεῖ ἡμᾶς, καὶ ὅλον τὸν κόσμον πνεῦμα καὶ ἀὴρ περιέχει

as our soul, being air, constrains us, so also the entire cosmos is enveloped by breath and air

In the New Testament, πνεῦμα is used in a variety of ways:

τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ

the wind blows where it wishes  (John 3:8)

* 

πνεῦμα ζωῆς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσῆλθεν ἐν αὐτοῖς

a breath of life from God entered them  (Rev 11:11)

*

ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς . . . ἀφῆκεν τὸ πνεῦμα

Jesus . . .  yielded up the spirit  (Matthew 27:50)

*

καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐπιτάσσει, καὶ ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ

he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him (Mark 1:27)

*

A number of the uses of πνεῦμα are in combination with the adjective ἅγιος, ἁγία, ἅγιον, 'holy, sacred'.

Πνεῦμα is neuter, and so the adjective ἅγιος, -ία, -ον is used in the neuter as well.

(Note the rough breathing on this adjective.  This is why English speakers refer to the church in Istanbul as Hagia Sophia, not Agia Sophia.)  

Πνεύμα gives us pneumonia and pneumatic in English, both words referring to 'air' or 'breath'.

In a coming post we will look at the nomina sacra used in early manuscripts, including the nomen sacrum for 'Holy Spirit'.  But first: the uncommon verb ἀποφθέγγομαι and its root φθέγγομαι.

Ἐφ’ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν: why is it ἐφ' ? What is ἐφ' ?

In Acts 2:3 we see the final phrase

ἐφ’ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν . . . on each on of them

referring to the 'tongues of flame'.

The preposition ἐπί is a very common word in the New Testament, used about 900 times.  The basic meaning is something like 'on' or 'upon', but lexicons (see, for example, this page in Thayer's) have numerous variations on this theme.

Our question refers to the spelling.  Ἐπί is found in three versions, depending on what letter follows:

1)  ἐπί (ἐπὶ) before a consonant

ὅτι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους

for (he makes) his sun rise on the evil and the good, and it rains on the just and unjust   (Matthew 5:45)

2)  ἐπ' -  simple elision before a vowel with a smooth breathing 

ἰδὼν τὴν πόλιν ἔκλαυσεν ἐπ’ αὐτήν

having seen the city, he wept over it  (Luke 19:41)

3)  ἐφ' - elision before a vowel with a rough breathing.  The 'π' now changes to 'φ' for reasons of euphony.  Thus in Acts 2:3:

ἐφ’ ἕνα . . . upon one

Also, for example:

ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ἐφ’ ἵπποις λευκοῖς

(they) followed him on white horses (Rev 19:14)

 

Acts 2:2 and 2:3

2  καὶ ἐγένετο . . . . and it happened

ἄφνω ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ . . . . . suddenly out of the heaven

ἦχος . . . . a sound

ὥσπερ φερομένης πνοῆς βιαίας . . . . like of a moving wind violent

καὶ ἐπλήρωσεν . . . .  and it filled

ὅλον τὸν οἶκον . . . . all the house

οὗ ἦσαν καθήμενοι, . . . . where they were sitting

 

3  καὶ ὤφθησαν αὐτοῖς  . . . . and there was seen by them

διαμεριζόμεναι γλῶσσαι . . . . distributing tongues

ὡσεὶ πυρός, . . . . as of fire

καὶ ἐκάθισεν . . . . and it sat

ἐφ’ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν, . . . . on one each of them

*** 

2  Suddenly a sound like a rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3  And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

 

Comments on vocabulary and idiom:  

1  The common phrase 'καὶ ἐγένετο' often means something like 'then this happened', without  adding much else.  The form ἐγένετο is used about 200 times in the New Testament.

2  The English 'echo' derives from ὁ ἦχος ('sound', 'report')   

3  The adjective βίαιος, -α, -ον, 'violent', is a hapax legomenon.

4  The use of the word γλῶσσα in Greek is fairly similar to its usage in English: it can refer to the physical tongue, or to a language.  

Note, however, that there are variations on these two themes, as seen here: 'tongues' of fire presumably refers to the shape of flames.  In addition, 'tongue' can stand in for 'speech', as in James 1:26:

Εἴ τις δοκεῖ θρησκὸς εἶναι, μὴ χαλιναγωγῶν γλῶσσαν ἑαυτοῦ ἀλλὰ ἀπατῶν καρδίαν ἑαυτοῦ, τούτου μάταιος ἡ θρησκεία.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.

Verbs:

1  The participle φερομένης (feminine singular genitive, present middle/passive) is a form of the fairly common verb φέρω, which usually means something like 'I bring', 'I produce', 'I bear'.  When Jesus' disciples bring him a colt on Palm Sunday, this is the verb used:

καὶ φέρουσιν τὸν πῶλον πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν  (Mark 11:7)

The use of φερομένης here is a bit more difficult to figure out, with the participle being typically translated as 'rushing', 'blowing'.  The adjective βιαίας adds to the sense of a strong wind.

2  Ah, ὤφθησαν.  Where do I start?  The verb forms for 'seeing' are varied; in this case ὤφθησαν is parsed as 3-P, aorist passive indicative of ὁράω.  Note that these forms are also listed under ὁράω:

ἰδού  (single most common, at about 200 uses in the NT)

εἶδεν  

ὄψεσθε

ἑώρακεν

So - do not be surprised if ὤφθησαν is unfamiliar.  This is its only use (i.e., this particular form) in the New Testament.

Acts 2: the derivation of 'Pentecost'

While I continue to work on speed-learning HTML code, we'll start Acts 2.  Recall that at the end of Acts 1, Matthias has just been chosen to replace Judas.  In Acts 2:1, the disciples are gathered together on the day of Pentecost.

Καὶ ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι . . . . And in the to fulfill  

τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς, . . . . the day of Pentecost

ἦσαν ἅπαντες . . . . they were all

ὁμοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. . . . together on the place

And when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

The form συμπληροῦσθαι is the present middle/passive infinitive of συμπληρόω - 'I fill, fill completely, fulfill'.

Ἠ Πεντηκοστῆ is translated as 'Pentecost', but is more literally 'fiftieth', with 'day' understood from context.  This word derives from πέντε, 'five', and the ending -κοστος, both known from classical times down, with -κοστος declined as usual for an adjective.  

This ending corresponds to the '-ieth' or '-eth' endings of English, e.g., twentieth, thirtieth, two-hundredth and so on.  Thus we see the form πεντηκοστῆς used here, since 'day' (ἡμέρα) is feminine, and the genitive case is by sense.

The adverb ὁμοῦ ('together, at the same place / time') is replaced in the Byzantine Majority Text by the adverb ὁμοθυμαδὸν, which is generally translated with something like 'with one accord'.  Ὁμοθυμαδὸν is actually used more often in the New Testament than ὁμοῦ.

Acts 2:1 in the Codex Sinaiticus: what happened to ΠΑΝΤΕΣ?

 Here's a wider snippet of what we saw before:

The tilde at the end of the fifth line seems to indicate a missing word.  

Apparently people made mistakes in those days, as well.  

On the left, you see the word ΠΑΝΤΕC (παντες) in smaller printing, under another tilde.  So ΠΑΝΤΕC goes in front of the 'Ο', with the whole reading:

 . . . ἦσαν πάντες ὁμοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό

I was originally confused by the note on the right, which is physically closer to the tilde by the 'Ο', but closer inspection showed that these missing words (ΚΑ(Ι) ΕΛΑΜΙΤΑΙ) go with verse 9, in the column to its right, which is not seen here.

One of the things which I am not certain of is whether notes like 'ΠΑΝΤΕC' are written in the original hand.  It doesn't look like it to me; the letters are smaller and less careful, even there seems to be enough room, and the color of the ink is different to my eyes.  A later copyeditor?  Here is an expanded view of this region:

***

Now, as to the 'ΚΑ' in the beginning of the first line (the end of verse 1:26):  on first glance I assumed it was for 'ΚΑΙ', as a common abbreviation for that short, common word.  But no, it is the last two letters of the preceding word, ἔνδεκα ('eleven'):

μετα των ενδε

κα αποστολων

Next post:  all the countries.

Reading the Codex Sinaiticus: the beginning of Acts 2

Here's the beginning of Acts 2.  I've included the last line from Acts 1:26, showing that the manuscript gives no indication of modern conventions of chapter or verse.

 Before moving on to the transcription, note that we have:

1  All capital letters

2  'C' (the lunate sigma) is used instead of 'Σ', and a rounded 'W' instead of 'Ω'

3  No punctuation, and no spaces between words

4  Words may be broken and run from one line to the next, without indication

5  Fading noted particularly on the thin horizontal strokes of 'Π', 'Η', and sometimes 'Θ'

6  Considerable similarity between 'Α' and 'Λ', especially when the cross-stroke of alpha has faded

Here is a transcription using modern type.  Acts 2:1 begins on the second line:

Lets try it again, with spaces between words and in lower case, although without accents:

This should be readable, more or less.  In the next post, I'll discuss the extra markings in the original.  Also: what's that 'κα' before 'αποστολων' from Acts 1:26?

Answers to quiz on Acts 1

1  From verse 1:  Ἐποιησάμην is a 1-S, aorist middle indicative  (d)

2  Verse 3: Ζῶντα is a masculine participle  (a)

3  Verse 6:  Βασιλείαν is most closely translated as 'kingdom'  (b)

4  Verse 11:  Ἐλεύσεται is 3-S, future middle indicative  (a)

5  The lexical form for ἐλεύσεται is ἔρχομαι  (d)

6  Verse 13:  Ἀνέβησαν  is 3-P, aorist active indicative  (c)

7  The closest translation for ἄνέβησαν is 'they went up'  (a)

8  Verse 21:  Εἰσῆλθεν and ἐξῆλθεν are both 3-S, aorist active indicative  (d)

9  Verse 22:  The closest English translation for μάρτυρα is 'witness'

10. Verse 24:  Κύριε is in the vocative case  (e)

News from koineworkbook

[Update: Still having problems.  The entire quiz is below, but answers do not show up.]

I am trying to add multiple-choice quizzes to the blog.  This is difficult (for me), and I do not know of any way to ensure that the quiz is 'working' (i.e., the answers show up when you press a button) other than actually publishing the darn thing.  

And then un-publishing it when it isn't working correctly.

So I apologize if you've run into one of these draft quizzes, and I hope to have the bugs worked out in the next day or two.  

Multiple choice quiz on the koine of Acts, chapter 1

 

We’ve finished the first chapter of Acts.  Below is a short multiple-choice quiz, covering vocabulary and parsings, from the verses of this first chapter.

 

1.  From verse 1:  How is ἐποιησάμην parsed?

a.  3-S, aorist middle indicative

b. 1-S, aorist active indicative

c.  3-S, present middle/passive indicative

d.  1-S, aorist middle indicative

Answer d

2. From verse 3: What is ζῶντα?

a.  a masculine participle

b.  an infinitive

c.  a feminine noun

d.  an indicative verb

Answer a

3. From verse 6: which choice is the closest English translation for βασιλείαν?

a.  promise

b.  kingdom

c.  king

d.  authority

Answer b

4. From verse 11: What is the correct parsing for ἐλεύσεται?

a.  3-S, future middle indicative

b.  3-P, future middle indicative

c.  3-S, future active indicative

d.  3-S, present middle/passive subjunctive

Answer a

5. What is the lexical form for ἐλεύσεται?

a.  ἐλπίζω

b.  ἐλαύνω

c.  ἐλέγχω

d.  ἔρχομαι 

Answer d

6. From verse 13: Parse ἀνέβησαν.

a.  3-S, present active indicative

b.  3-S, aorist active indicative

c.  3-P, aorist active indicative

d.  3-P, present active subjunctive

Answer c

7. Which choice is the closest English translation for ἀνέβησαν?

a.  they went up

b.  he/she went up

c.  they entered

d.  they gathered

Answer a

8. From verse 21: Identify εἰσῆλθεν and ἐξήλθεν.

a.  They are both middle aorists.

b.  They are both 3-S, present subjunctives.

c.  They are both 3-P, aorist active subjunctives

d.  They are both 3-S, aorist active indicatives

Answer d

9. From Acts 1:22: Which choice is the closest idiomatic English translation for μάρτυρα?

a.  martyr

b.  disciple

c.  witness

d.  person of authority

Answer c

10. From Acts 1:24: What case is Κὐριε?

a.  nominative

b.  genitive

c.  dative

d.  accusative

e.  vocative

Answer e