And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’ (Mark 4: 24-25)

Most translations of Mark connect these two sayings. The translator above uses the second saying to explain the first.

The original Greek does not insist on such a connection.

The first saying can stand as an independent principle. In my mind it echoes "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespress against us." Deal with us as we deal with others.

My reading of the second saying is so profoundly different than the traditional translation that I must be wrong. But it will take much more study to determine why or how I am wrong.

The original Greek is almost a rhyme:

Hos echo didomi
Hos echo kai
Hos echo airo

Whoever has (or holds) will receive.
Whoever has (or holds) indeed...
Whoever has (or holds) will be lifted up.

The conjunction in the second phrase might be understood as, "Whoever has indeed will receive." The third phrase could as easily mean, "Whoever has will take away."

My Greek is so poor that I must be missing something. But the Greek is so simple, it is difficult to find the error. At the very least, I am encouraged to give very close attention.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2006

Closer examination found that my Greek New Testament has a typo. In the second line of the rhyme there should be the adverb ou modifying the verb echo. This introduces the negative sense so prominent in other translations Further, I have found that what I translated as indeed can also mean "likewise." So the whole phrase could be rendered as:

Whoever has will receive.
Whoever has not will likewise.
Whoever has will be lifted up (or taken away)

While fully admitting I am a complete amateur in Greek translation, this corrected rendering still provides plenty of room for alternative understandings. The traditional translation is an entirely reasonable rendering. But there are other possibilities.

Above is the River Taught Me to Listen by Anne Vilsboll.