ἢ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 ἢ

   ê

   or
2. sentence🔊 καλὸν τὸ μὴ φαγεῖν κρέα μηδὲ πιεῖν οἶνον μηδὲ ἐν ᾧ ὁ ἀδελφός σου προσκόπτει ἢ σκανδαλίζεται ἢ ἀσθενεῖ

   ka-LON to mê pha-GEIN KRE-a mê-DE pi-EIN OI-non mê-DE en hôi ho a-del-PHOS sou pros-KOP-tei ê skan-da-LI-dze-tai ê as-the-NEI

   good the not to eat meat nor to drink wine nor in which the brother your stumbles or is caused to stumble or is weak

Exegesis

Within this relative clause, ho adelphos sou proskoptei {ὁ ἀδελφός σου προσκόπτει | ho adelphós sou proskóptei} presents “your brother” as the subject who “stumbles,” and this is followed by two additional finite verbs, skandalízeta {σκανδαλίζεται | skandalízeta} ‘is offended’ and astheneî {ἀσθενεῖ | astheneî} ‘is weakened,’ all connected by ē {ἢ | ē} “or.” The coordinated verbal series portrays different but related forms of spiritual harm to another believer’s conscience. In translation, kalon is rendered with an impersonal construction (“It is good” and “It is the right thing”) to reflect the idiomatic way Greek states general evaluations, while the relative phrase with en hō is translated more literally in the formal reconstruction and made more explicit in the dynamic rendering (“to do anything that might cause”) to capture the inclusive ethical scope implied by the Greek syntax.

Root and etymology

sthenos🔊 σθένοςsigma–theta–epsilon–nu–omicron–sigma

“strength, might”

• 🔊 ἀσθένειαas-the-néiaweakness2 Corinthians 12:9
• 🔊 ἀσθενέωas-the-néōto be weakRomans 14:1