• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

The sixth hour HAVING ARRIVED, darkness CAME over the whole land

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
6,061
2,238
Toronto
Visit site
✟196,410.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
ESV, Mark 15:

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Westcott and Hort 1881:

Καὶ γενομένης ὥρας ἕκτης σκότος ἐγένετο ἐφ' ὅλην τὴν γῆν ἕως ὥρας ἐνάτης.
had come γενομένης
Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1096

The phrase γενομένης ὥρας forms a genitive absolute participle. The construct functions as a grammatical clause independent of the main clause.

Does the Greek text for Mark 15:33 contain an example of a genitive absolute whose action occurs before the action of the main verb?

Berean Literal Bible thought so:

And the sixth hour having arrived, darkness came over the whole land, until the ninth hour.
NIV ignored this construct:

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
The main clause has this verb:

came
ἐγένετο (egeneto)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

Holman Christian Standard Bible translated the construct as "was":

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
Godbey New Testament translated the construct as concurrent:

And it being the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
At Biblehub,
2 versions used "being";
5 ignored the construct;
6 used "having";
18 used "was" or "was come".

Does a genitive absolute indicate the event happens before the main clause?

No, not necessarily. They could be concurrent.

To emphasize the "becoming" aspect of foreboding anticipation, here is my translation:

And coming to the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land, until the ninth hour.