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[This is part of a running series on translating Second Timothy. See the introductory post for more information — RB]

Phrasing/Translation: 2Ti 4.14-15

¹⁴ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ χαλκεὺς πολλά μοι κακὰ ἐνεδείξατο·
¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith inflicted a great deal of harm to me.

ἀποδώσει αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος
The Lord will repay him
    κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ·
    in accordance with his deeds.
    ¹⁵ ὃν καὶ σὺ φυλάσσου,
    ¹⁵ You also must guard against him,
        λίαν γὰρ ἀντέστη τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις.
        for he is quite opposed to our message.

Comments

Verse 14

Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ χαλκεὺς] apposition; “the coppersmith” is a descriptor of “Alexander”. Perhaps there was more than one “Alexander” and the apposition was needed to disambiguate. This is a topical frame; Paul is changing the subject again.

πολλά μοι κακὰ ἐνεδείξατο] There is a direct object, “a great deal of harm” and an indirect object “to me”. These complete the verb; “he inflicted a great deal of harm to me”.

ἀποδώσει αὐτῷ ὁ κύριος] The pronoun refers to Alexander the coppersmith.

κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ] prepositional phrase, modifying the verb in the previous segment. Again, the pronoun refers to Alexander.

Verse 15

ὃν καὶ σὺ φυλάσσου] relative clause. The first pronoun refers to Alexander; the second pronoun refers to Timothy. Note the shifting of the word order in order to make sense in English, while the phrase “whom also you must guard [against]” makes some sense, in the larger translation it is clunky. Note the adverbial καὶ; it does not function to join clauses but serves an additive function within the relative clause.

λίαν γὰρ ἀντέστη τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις] Here γὰρ connects this dependent clause marking its explanatory value; Paul gives Timothy reason why Alexander is dangerous because he is opposed to the true doctrine taught by Paul and Timothy. Interesting here is the characterization of the true teaching as “our message” instead of simply true doctrine or proper teaching.