Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 18:22

οὐ : emphatic “no” to be connected with ἕως ἑπτάκις. Its force may be brought out by translating: no, I tell you, not till, etc. ἀλλὰ ἑ. ἑ. ἑ.: Christ's reply lifts the subject out of the legal sphere, where even Peter's suggestion left it (seven times and no more a hard rule), into the evangelic, and means: times without number, infinite placability. This alone decides between the two renderings of ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά : seventy-seven times and seventy times seven, in favour of the latter as giving a number (490) practically equal to infinitude. Bengel leans to the former, taking the termination - κις as covering the whole number seventy-seven, and referring to Genesis 4:24 as the probable source of the expression. Similarly some of the Fathers (Orig., Aug.), De Wette and Meyer. The majority adopt the opposite view, among whom may be named Grotius and Fritzsche, who cite the Syriac version in support. On either view there is inexactness in the expression. Seventy times seven requires the termination - κις at both words. Seventy-seven times requires the - κις at the end of the second word rather than at end of first: either ἑπτὰ καὶ ἑβδο … κις, or ἑβδομ … τα ἑπτάκις.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Matthew 18:22

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