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"Overcome" vs "comprehend" in John 1:5
John 1:5 reads in the ESV:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
I recently heard the KJV quoted and was struck by the difference:
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
In the same vein as the ESV, other translations offer overpowered, extinguished, quenched, defeated. More in line with the KJV, other choices include understood and perceived.
The Greek for reference (NA28):
καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
BDAG provides options for the meaning of καταλαμβάνω carrying both senses (abbreviations expanded):
1. to make something one’s own, win, attain…
2b. seize with hostile intent, overtake, come upon…
4a. learn about something through process of inquiry…
The lexicon mentions this verse in all three of the entries above, but all I could get out of that without having the referenced works at hand is that it seems to be an open question. How should we decide which of these the author intended?
Varnel Watson
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