Gordon Brown wrote:
>I don't know whether or not this is one of the solutions proposed by F. F.
>Bruce, but it has been pointed out that the accounts in Acts 9 and Acts 22
>differ in the case of the word for voice--accusative vs. genitive.
F. Blass & A. Debrunner, "Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch"
(Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1965, 12th ed.), comment on p.114
(translated from German):
"With akouein (to hear), the classical rule: genitive for the person one
hears talking, accusative for the thing (or person) about which (whom)
one hears." But later (same page) they add: "akouein phonen (to hear a
voice) in the sense of a perception: ... in Acts and Rev. both cases
mixed up: accusative ... Acts 22:9 ... genitive Acts 9:7 ..."
Nevertheless, despite their qualification, I suspect that by using the
genitive in Acts 9:7, Luke emphasizes that Paul's companions heard a
voice of a person talking (implied: they didn't understand what he was
saying), whereas by using the accusative in Acts 22:9, he emphasizes
that they didn't get the message that was being conveyed (implied: about
the person of Jesus who was talking with Paul).
Peter
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