OI MEN OUN STRATIWTAI TAUTA EPOIHSAN. hEISTHKEISAN DE PARA TW STAURW TOU IHSOU
hE MHTHR AUTOU KAI hH ADELFH THS MHTROS AUTOU, MARIA hH TOU KLWPA KAI MARIA hH
MAGDALHNH.
I assume that MEN-DE emphasizes the two very different scenes occuring at the
same place and time. Perhaps translating DE as "meanwhile" would be appropriate?
(News flash: I just peaked at some translations, and NRSV and REB actually
translate this as "meanwhile". NAB and NJB don't translate it at all. Zuercher
Bibel translates it as "but".)
Second, I'm not sure whether it is clear that there are three women, as opposed
to four. The phrase KAI hH ADELFH THS MHTROS AUTOU, MARIA hH TOU KLWPA seems
ambiguous to me. Does this all refer to one woman named Mary, who is the wife of
Cleopas and the sister of Mary? It doesn't seem likely that there would be two
sisters named Mary. Does it refer to "the sister of Jesus' mother Mary, the one
who is the wife of Cleopas", without giving the name of Mary's sister, just the
name of her husband? Or do we have two different women here, Mary's sister and
Mary, the wife of Cleopas?
Are these all possible readings of the Greek?
Jonathan