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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
Both secular and sacred texts indicate that the verb έμβρ. and its congeners may convey, at times, a more violent expression of ‘wrath’ such as is found in the description of the persecutors of Christians in Gaul (Eusebius) or in the meaning of ‘curse’ (cf. Hermias on Empedocles) or ‘exasperation’ (Aquila in Jer 10.10) or even as a substitute for όργή (Symmachus and Theodotion on Ezek 21.36). At other times, έμβρ. and its congeners shade into the meaning of έπειλή ‘threat’ (Basil on Ps 37) or even of έπιτιμάω ‘rebuke’ (cf. Symmachus on Isa 17.13).
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23 The Latin text of John 11. 33 which Augustine expounds is: fremuit spiritu et turbavit semetipsum. The translation ‘murmur’ (= express in secret) for fremo gives the evident meaning of the Latin verb in this context. Elsewhere its meaning is often ‘roar, growl’ (= έμβρ.).
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29 The Latin noun fortitudo ‘courage’ is used by Rupert as a personification of Jesus. The words of the Vulgate of Ps 67. 19 (Engl. 68. 18) are apparently in Rupert's mind, i.e. Ascendisti in altum, cepisti captivitatem.
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56 Bonner, , ‘Traces …’, p. 176, does admit that at times, έμβρ. has a ‘weakened’ use, yet he insists that the verb does imply frenzied or raving behaviour of a prophet or wonderworker both of which, he says, Jesus is.Google Scholar
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67 Compare, e.g., ‘The one who comes to me shall not hunger, The one who believes in me shall never thirst.’ Synonymous and antithetical parallelism are the main types to be found (cf. e.g. 1. 17; 3. 6, 18, 20–21; 4. 13–14; 6. 35, 55; 8.23; 10.10; 12.25; 13.16; 17.18).
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69 Matthew's version of the ‘Messianic secret’ of Mark.
70 To my knowledge, there is no other text in sacred or secular Greek literature where the active voice of ταράσσω has a reflexive pronoun as its direct object. The examples of ταράσσω-texts given by Bonner (‘Traces’, 177–8) are in the passive voice and thus fail to jibe with John 11. 33.
71 The genuine request which is printed by the Greek texts noted, i.e. ‘Save me from this hour’, is John's ‘version’ of the Gethsemane prayer (cf. Matt 26. 39; Mark 14. 36; Luke 22. 42), a prayer that is suited admirably to the opening words of 12. 27, ‘Now my soul is troubled.’ John lifts the veil for us to see the true human being that Jesus is as he recoils in horror from the spectre of the cross. The punctuation of UBS3 and Nestle26 with a question mark after ταύτης reveals – to the contrary – Jesus’ courage in the face of his impending death.
