# και θα τη βάλει στον δρόμο των βημάτων του



## panettonea

12 Ο Κύριος, βέβαια, θα δώσει το αγαθό· και η γη μας θα δώσει τον καρπό της. 
13 Δικαιοσύνη θα προπορεύεται μπροστά του,* και θα τη βάλει* στον δρόμο των βημάτων του.

The passage above is from the Psalms.  I'm having trouble translating the part in bold--I'm not sure what the subject is or what τη is referring to.  Thanks for any help.


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## Perseas

The subject seems to be "Ο Κύριος", and "τη" is referring to "Δικαιοσύνη".


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## Andrious

Well, although it seems indeed that the subject is Jesus, pronouns referring to Jesus in Greek always start with capital letter, so I 'd expect to be "Δικαιοσύνη θα προπορεύεται μπροστά Του, και θα τη βάλει στον δρόμο των βημάτων Του."


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## panettonea

Thanks for your replies, Perseas and Andrious.  I've looked at various other online translations of this passage in English, and none of them render this verse in the way the Greek does.  Strange.  As for the capitalization, since it's in the Old Testament, the subject would have to be Ο Κύριος in this example.  But this Greek Bible doesn't seem to capitalize references to God--don't know why. It would be interesting to see what other Greek versions of the Bible have for this verse, but this is the only Modern Greek translation I can find on the Web.

Actually, this is what the Septuagint version seems to have, but I'm not sure if it's Modern or Ancient Greek:

και γαρ ο κυριος δωσει χρηστοτητα και η γη ημων δωσει τον καρπον αυτης

δικαιοσυνη εναντιον αυτου προπορευσεται και θησει εις οδον τα διαβηματα αυτου.


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## ireney

Yes, it's not the best translation in modern Greek I guess. I'd have to agree with Andrious that "δικαιοσύνη" seems to be the subject. There's no grammatical reason that Κύριος cannot be the subject but it makes more sense (to me at least) in this context


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## panettonea

ireney said:


> Yes, it's not the best translation in modern Greek I guess. I'd have to agree with Andrious that "δικαιοσύνη" seems to be the subject. There's no grammatical reason that Κύριος cannot be the subject but it makes more sense (to me at least) in this context



Thanks, ireney.  OK, if the subject is δικαιοσύνη, then how would you translate τη?


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## Perseas

Τhe subject of "βάλει" is "ο Κύριος". Τhe subject of "θήσει" is "δικαιοσύνη".

"τη" = "δικαιοσύνη"


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## ireney

I read it differently and maintain it's not the best translation. My translation would be closer to "(η) Δικαιοσύνη θα προπορεύεται αυτού (or θα πορεύεται μπροστά του και θα (προ)ετοιμάσει τον δρόμο για τα βήματά του (pave the way kind of thing, not at my best right now, translation-wise)


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## Perseas

Ok, ireney. In your translation the subject is "η δικαιοσύνη" (in the ancient text also), but in the translated text panettonea has provided "διακαιοσύνη"(= "τη")  is the object of the verb, it can't be at the same time the subject. 
(except if "τη" refers to something else)


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## ireney

Oh, yes, you are perfectly right, in the text of the opening post Κύριος is most definitely the subject. Sorry if I confused things with my explanations!


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## panettonea

Thanks for the clarifications.  I don't feel so bad now if even native Greek speakers initially found the matter to be a bit cloudy!    It sounds as if it's probably not the most sterling modern Greek translation out there.


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