Sentence Structure and Meaning

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Guest  #74691  Thu, 17 Feb 05 09:51 PM
Can you please advise me on the affect of the commas in the following sentence.

1. "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and [in]the Psalms concerning Me."

and

2. "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."

My specific question is this: In the first sentence there are no commas in certain places and it leads me to believe that the speaker is stating that there are writings or information about him(the speaker) to be found in the listed places. However, when the commas are added in the second sentence, I cannot tell if the sentence meaning changes or not.

I realize this is a religious scripture, but I sure would appreciate your best shot at helping me to understand the affect of the commas on this sentence.

If you would like, you may respond to my email at

Thanks a bunch,
Alisa
  
Mister Micawber  #74876  Fri, 18 Feb 05 03:12 PM

Hi Alisa,

I don't think that you can read any substantial difference in the placement or existence of commas in different renditions of Biblical passages. They are only different translators trying to present the passage as clearly as possible, as they see it, to the reader. These two translations were composed rather far apart in time, I surmise, and the ground rules for comma placement were somewhat different.



  
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