The sixth hour HAVING ARRIVED, darkness CAME over the whole land

[TonyChanYT]

ESV, Mark 15:

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Westcott and Hort 1881:

Καὶ γενομένης ὥρας ἕκτης σκότος ἐγένετο ἐφ' ὅλην τὴν γῆν ἕως ὥρας ἐνάτης.

had come γενομένης
Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1096

The phrase γενομένης ὥρας forms a genitive absolute participle. The construct functions as a grammatical clause independent of the main clause.

Does the Greek text for Mark 15:33 contain an example of a genitive absolute whose action occurs before the action of the main verb?

Berean Literal Bible thought so:

And the sixth hour having arrived, darkness came over the whole land, until the ninth hour.

NIV ignored this construct:

At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

The main clause has this verb:

came
ἐγένετο (egeneto)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

Holman Christian Standard Bible translated the construct as "was":

When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.

Godbey New Testament translated the construct as concurrent:

And it being the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

At Biblehub,
2 versions used "being";
5 ignored the construct;
6 used "having";
18 used "was" or "was come".

Does a genitive absolute indicate the event happens before the main clause?

No, not necessarily. They could be concurrent.

To emphasize the "becoming" aspect of foreboding anticipation, here is my translation:

And coming to the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land, until the ninth hour.

 

[Josheb]

ESV, Mark 15:

Are you aware there exist websites (like the Bible Hub site cited in the op, HERE) where a transliteration of the Greek and sampling of the Greek manuscripts can be seen all on one page and visually compared for differences? In this case there's very little difference between W&H, the Byzantine Majority text, and the Textus Receptus, the difference(s) that does exist is not critical. Why did you choose a comparison of the English and not the original language? Why choose a relatively innocuous verse? All the English versions agree there was darkness for three hours.


Have you ever read D. A. Carson's "Exegetical Fallacies"? If not, then I encourage doing so because he gets at some of the less known but still common mistakes.