The Upper Room Diaries

“You don’t know no boundaries!” This is an example of the double negative. This is something to avoid in the English but in the Greek New Testament; when double negatives occur, it means (strong) emphasis. It occurs around 100 times in the New Testament.

Probably the best example of the use of Greek negatives is found In Hebrews 13:5. In this one verse the double negative occurs twice and there is another negative that occurs once. This makes a total of five negatives in one verse and could be translated as follows:

for He has said, I will never ever leave you, no, I will never ever forsake you
αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν, οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ οὐδ’ οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλείπω

This is probably the strongest emphatic way that the Bible could say that God will be with us forever. There is not even a potential for God to forsake us. Five negatives with a very positive message! You will not find it written this way in your bibles because it is translated too literally that it does not make good English sense. So yes, although this is surely some bad English but it is surely some good Greek.