As I've mentioned in other posts/questions, I am a novice to NT Greek and translation (but I'm trying to fix that!).
Today, I randomly picked 1 Peter 3:1-6 to translate as an exercise. I kinda sorta got through verse 1 with a decent understanding of how it should be translated.
Then, I got to verse 2 and saw this:
ὲποπτεύσαντες τὴν ἐν φόβῳ ἁγνήν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν.
This is a form that I have never seen before, and I don't yet know enough to even know where to begin looking in my text books.
Here are some of the more common translations of this verse:
KJV: While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
NIV: when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
ESV: when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
NASB: as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
So, it would appear pretty obvious that ὲποπτεύσαντες
is "when they see/behold/observe" something. Got it.
My question is more about how to understand the "something". So, we're on to the τὴν ἐν φόβῳ ἁγνήν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν.
part of the sentence.
In my mind, the first step I do is to read the words sort of like this:
τὴν [something 1] [something 2] ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν.
If we ignored [something 1]
and [something 2]
for the moment, the sentence would then read:
ὲποπτεύσαντες τὴν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν.
My understanding is that this would be correctly translated as:
When they see your conduct/behavior/lives.
First Question:
Is this correct so far?
Assuming that I'm correct so far, let's continue.
Putting [something 2]
back in, the sentence would read:
ὲποπτεύσαντες τὴν ἁγνήν ἀναστροφὴν ὑμῶν.
I think this would then be:
When they see your pure/holy conduct/behavior/lives.
Second Question:
Am I still on the right track?
Still assuming I'm correct, we press onward.
If I look at ἐν φόβῳ
by itself, I would think it would mean in/with/by fear/reverence/respect
. What is really tripping me up here is its insertion in the middle of what would (I think) otherwise be a pretty straightforward accusative noun with a modifying adjective.
Based on the wide variety of ways that the different translations seem to deal with this phrase, I'm guessing this is a usage in Greek that doesn't have a perfect analogue in English.
Third Question(s):
How do you go about understanding this in the Greek, even before trying to translate it into English?
In the ESV ("when they see your respectful and pure conduct"), in the interlinear version, "respectful" is the translation of ἐν φόβῳ
and the "and" is simply added in, I assume for readability. I tend to prefer the ESV, and it seems to give a good translation here. Did they get it right?