This is a little picky thing, but it does illustrate the ascensive use of καί. Luke writes, “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and (καί) Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” ( NIV). My question is whether Mary was considered part of the group called “the women,” or was she outside the group?

A few translations miss the connector that starts v 4 and, unfortunately, hide the reason why older women should teach what is good. There are times when longer Greek sentences must be divided, but then you run the risk of not seeing the connection between the two halves.

When Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda, the Pharisees objected to him carrying his mat on the Sabbath and wanted to know who had told him to do so. Verse 13 says, “But the man who was healed did not know who he was (ἐστιν).” But ἐστιν is present tense. Why do all the translations make it past tense, “was”?

The phrase “οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς (πιστοί)” occurs twice in Acts, once with πιστοί (10:45) and once without (11:2). Is the change significant, and should translations add in the word “believer” in 11:2 when the Greek doesn't say they were believers?

Before I get into this blog, I want to share an interesting fact that someone sent me. This is my 500th episode for Monday w/ Mounce. I started in 2008 and have tried to write consistently, with a few summers off. I am thankful for having been able to do this and trust that you have found it helpful.

This blog is really about how you decide on the meaning of a Greek word that rarely occurs.

The challenge of translating “quench” is that 1 Thess 5:19 is a famous verse, the normal meaning of the word doesn't fit the biblical context, and the Greek word behind it has an interesting range of meaning.

The default translations work most of the time — like “of” for the genitive. But many times, “of” just doesn't make sense, and that is when you need to check the advanced uses of a case. Here is an example of what is called a “genitive of apposition,” #16.21 in Greek for the Rest of Us.

There are two types of double accusatives. Do you remember what they are?

As a general rule, concordance is a good thing. Concordance is using the same English word for the same Greek word. In Matthew 20:26, the translations correctly translated διάκονος as "servant" and δοῦλος as "slave." But both words refer to the same entity, so why the switch in Greek, and should English likewise switch?

One of the more interesting passages in the Bible is the 73 verses between Mark 3:7 and 5:6 because the name “Jesus” never occurs. In 3:7 “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake” and in 5:6 the demon–possessed man “saw Jesus from a distance.” In fact, we don’t see “Jesus” as the subject of a verb in an independent clause until 5:21. This brings up a few interesting points.