Matthew 5.5: The 'meek' shall inherit the earth, or the 'chaste'?

[John King]

I wonder if any of our Greek-speaking members could help with this ?

A friend of mine has a theory that whoever produced the King James Bible has slightly mistranslated Matthew 5:5 from the original Greek, and has confused hagnos with agnos, and that the verse should read, "Blessed are the chaste for they shall inherit the earth".

Given that millions world-wide are suffering from AIDS, and there has been an explosion of serious STDs throughout Europe, it is very likely indeed that the world's population will dwindle over the next few decades, perhaps by tens of millions, as a result of sinful life-styles.

So, perhaps my friend was correct but my Greek is not good enough to work this one out.

[Olga]

Neither hagnos (which I don't think is a word in koine Greek, though I could be wrong!), nor agnos are in this passage. The word used is praeis, which I have rendered in italics below:

5 μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν.

(the slightly wobbly appearance of the above is the browser's attempt to render polytonic Greek.)

Meek or gentle are correct translations of this word.

[Anthony]

Edited out: Olga beat me to it.

[Michael Stickles]

Just to emphasize what Olga said, while there are some places in the NT where a different Greek word is used in different Greek texts, this isn't one of them. It's praeis in all four Greek editions that I checked (Textus Receptus, Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and Byzantine/Majority).

[John King]

Dear Olga, Anthony and Mike,

Many thanks for your help. My research today, though, has further confused me !

In ancient Greece, there was a tree known as the chastity tree, and called agnos [ἄγνος], which apparently the early Christians confused both with similar Greek term hagnos [ἁγνός] “chaste”, and with Latin agnus “lamb”, the Christian symbol of purity. Under the name agnus castus “chaste lamb”, the plants was often used among early Christian monks as a help against the evils of the more fleshy desires.

But I am getting off the subject, and I think I will take it as read that Saint Matthew wrote exactly what he meant to say, and that the early translators of the Greek texts got it right.

[Fr Raphael Vereshack]

In the Slavonic also it means meek.

[Michael Stickles]

I can't help but wonder if they really confused the words, or if they deliberately made use of the similarity in sound. Various forms of wordplay were common in the Scriptures.



11 The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" "I see the branch of an almond [Heb: shaqed] tree," I replied.
12 The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching [Heb: shoqed] to see that my word is fulfilled."
- Jeremiah 1:11-12




1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.
2 He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit [Heb: qayits]." Then the LORD said to me, "The end [Heb: qets] has come for My people Israel I will spare them no longer."
- Amos 8:1-2


I wouldn't find it surprising if the plant was used similarly:

"What have you got there?"
"Agnos, father"
"Good, for we must remain chaste (hagnos)"

In Christ,
Mike

[Effie Ganatsios]

Υes, the greek word in Mathew 5:5 is πραοι, plural of πραος.

John, the letter h is not pronounced in Greek, so a word that is spelt hagnos in English is really just agnos (pure, chaste)

Another example : Hellas (which is the proper word for "Greece" ) is really Ellas.

Hope I've been helpful.

Effie

[Nina]

Dear Olga, Anthony and Mike,

Many thanks for your help. My research today, though, has further confused me !

In ancient Greece, there was a tree known as the chastity tree, and called agnos [ἄγνος], which apparently the early Christians confused both with similar Greek term hagnos [ἁγνός] “chaste”, and with Latin agnus “lamb”, the Christian symbol of purity. Under the name agnus castus “chaste lamb”, the plants was often used among early Christian monks as a help against the evils of the more fleshy desires.

But I am getting off the subject, and I think I will take it as read that Saint Matthew wrote exactly what he meant to say, and that the early translators of the Greek texts got it right.

John, according to what I know from my family and the way my grandparents expressed themselves is that (at least from the areas they are from in Greece) they used the word lamb to symbolize meekness, innocence, purity and obedience.

[John King]

It is most interesting that it is a very similar word, then, in many ancient languages. One of the favourite descriptions of Jesus in old latin during the Byzantine era was Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi (Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world) a description certainly used in prayer by Emperor Constantine.

It comes, of course, from St. John 1:29 originally written as
Αρνί του Θεού
I think (please correct me if I am wrong)

[Michael Stickles]

It comes, of course, from St. John 1:29 originally written as
Αρνί του Θεού
I think (please correct me if I am wrong)

Close - it's αμνος του θεου. Αρνίον is used in the Scriptures for lamb, just not in this verse.

In Christ,
Mike