Bible Act 2:14 "Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος σὺν τοῖς ἕνδεκα ἐπῆρεν τὴν .. " how many are standing ? 12 or just Peter ?

Question

Hi , I have a simple question about a bible verse Act 2:14 "Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος σὺν τοῖς ἕνδεκα ἐπῆρεν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπεφθέγξατο αὐτοῖς, Ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἰερουσαλὴμ πάντες, τοῦτο ὑμῖν γνωστὸν ἔστω καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε τὰ ῥήματά μου. " from this verse did all 12 disciples are standing or just Peter are standing ? thanks

Answer 1

Hi

It refers to all 12 disciples.

Comments

But in greek "standing" is a singular in this verse

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"Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος" means "Peter was standing".

"Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος σὺν τοῖς ἕνδεκα" means "Peter was standing with the other eleven".

So all twelve of them were standing.

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can we also say the following points from this verse ?

1. Peter is standing(as it's nominative singular masculine aorist participle)

2. Peter with the eleven.

3.From this verse, we cannot get any information of if the eleven is standing or sitting or even maybe 5 standing 6 sitting.... etc. This verse just didn't tell us any information about the eleven other than they are with Peter.

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"Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος σὺν τοῖς ἕνδεκα" means "Peter was standing with the other eleven".

When I read this, the impression I have is that all of them were standing.  You are correct though, it is possible that one or more of the others were sitting.  

Ancient Greek is a natural language (like English and German) and therefore full of ambiguities.  For more information see http://interactivepython.org/runestone/static/thinkcspy/GeneralIntro/FormalandNaturalLanguages.html