The fourth update letter for my pending work, The "Sharpest Rule": A Review and Restatement of Greek's Most Tragic Rule is now available on the Elihu Books Topic Index, and also on the Elihu Books and Media page next to the publication image.
[07/01/2026 Update: These letters were available on an older version of the Elihu Books web site, and so the links to them have been removed. See the link at the end of this article to a recent video which reviews and shows the letters. As I still intend to complete this work, I have left the above paragraph unrevised but for removing the links.]
The revised form of the Sharpest rule is as follows:
In my fourth publication update letter dated March 9, 2014, there is another exception to Sharp's rule, to the Sharper rule, and a further example of the Sharpest rule from the writings of Josephus, from his Jewish Antiquities 2.117. Also, there is a revised, shortened form of the Sharpest rule presented in light of this exception and based my present draft of the "Sharpest Rule," which is pending publication.
The revised form of the Sharpest rule is as follows:
When reading or when translating ancient Greek, if the Greek
understanding is expressed with two or more substantives (= nouns, pronouns, or
other terms used as nouns), if they are separated by the conjunction kai (“and”), and if only the first substantive
has the article and all substantives connected by kai are in grammatical agreement with the first term, whether they
are common, personal substantives or even if they are proper substantives or terms
with fixed significance for one or more well-known persons, the
reader/translator must first determine the significance of the involved
substantives rather than use syntax alone to determine to how many subjects the
substantives apply.
[07/01/2026 Update: See the link at the end of this article below for an updated, shorter version of the Sharpest Rule.]
As I write in my March 9, 2014, update letter, Jah willing I will be able to
publish my book on this subject in the near future. If not, then I am confident the Sharpest rule and many examples which show its importance in
use over and against Sharp’s rule, and even the Sharper rule, are already apparent
from my update letters to this point, as well as from my other writings on this subject.
[07/01/2026 Update: For more on these update letters and my other writings on Sharp's rule, the Sharper rule, and the Sharpest rule, see the video, "The Bible and the Trinity in Conflict #27: Sharp's Rule, Wallace's Sharper Rule & Stafford's Sharpest Rule" (01/28/2024).]
