Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Study Guide: Group 22

Here is the latest Study Guide! I have not provided English translations, since those are easy enough to find by consulting versions of the Bible in English. Instead, I have tried to call attention to the various grammatical features of the verses, along with interesting vocabulary items, the importance of a specific Biblical context, etc.

You will find more Study Guides at the Vulgate Verses wiki.

These verses contain fifth declension nouns:

252. The verb is implied but not expressed: Facies tua (est) decora.

253. Be careful to distinguish between the subject, fides sine operibus and the predicate, otiosa est.

254. These are the words spoken by Jesus to the woman of Canaan who petitioned him on behalf of her daughter who was possessed.

255. These are the words that Jesus speaks to his disciples when they were caught by a storm on the lake and became terrified.

256. The words sicut... ita et are used to coordinate the two parts of this comparison. The word et is used adverbially, meaning "also, likewise."

257. The verb is implied but not exprssed: Dominus (est) spes populi sui.

258. Be careful to distinguish between the subject, Deus, and the predicate, spes nostra est.

259. The word dies could be nominative singular, nominative plural or accusative plural, but from context here you can tell it must be nominative singular, agreeing with tua and parallel to the nominative singular, nox.

260. Notice that the verb is implied but not expressed: Mille anni in oculis tuis (sunt) sicut dies hesterna. See Verse #259 for dies; the adjective hesterna shows that dies here is nominative singular.

261. The verbs are implied, but not expressed: Unus dies apud Dominum (est) sicut mille anni, et mille anni (sunt) sicut dies unus. The noun dies is sometimes treated as a feminine noun (especially in the singular), and sometimes masculine, as here.

262. This verse is from the apocryphal book of Sirach. This is a complex comparison: in the same way that a drop of water is small compared to the sea, or a grain of sand is small, so too are years small, exigui when compared to just a single day in cosmic time, aevum (Greek ἐν ἡμέρᾳ αἰῶνος).

263. The dative Domino goes with the adjective sancta, "holy to the Lord."

264. The form diei could be genitive singular or dative singular, but the parallel structure shows that it is genitive singular, like the genitive singular noun, lucis. The word filii could be genitive singular or nominative plural, and the context shows that it is nominative plural, the predicate of the plural verb estis.

265. The word quid can mean "what?" but it can also mean "why?" ("for what reason?"), as it does here. The phrase modicae fidei is genitive singular, being used to describe the implied subject of estis, "(you who are) of small faith."

266. The Latin word nonne is used to introduce a question to which the expected answer is "yes," just as when we start a question in English with "isn't...?" or "doesn't...?"

267. The verb is implied but not expressed: Dies nostri (sunt) quasi umbra super terram.

268. The adjective pleni takes a complement in the ablative: doloribus et aerumnis.

269. The verb is implied but not expressed: Omnes dies pauperis (sunt) mali.

270. The verb is implied but not expressed: Cunctae res (sunt) difficiles.

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