gstafleu

I have bolded the bit I'm interested in.
The footnote {b} offers "Or among" as an alternative translation for "within." A quick scan of some other translation seems to indicate that they take either the one or the other.

The Greek is as follows:
The word translated either as "within" or as "among" is εντος. Both LSJ and Liddell on Perseus give "within, inside" for this.

The problem stems, I think, from the fact that the "you" in Greek is plural: υμων. This gives rise to two possible translations:

1. the kingdom of god is within [each of] you [individually]
2. the kingdom of god is among you [collectively, i.e. it is within the group]

The first is an individual approach, and can be seen to say that the kingdom of god can be reached by each individual via personal effort. The second is a collective approach where the kingdom of god can perhaps only be reached via collective effort.

Is there any reason to prefer either translation 1 or translation 2? My guess (obviously not more than that) is that 1 is meant, and that "you" is plural simply because Jesus was addressing a group (of Pharisees). LSJ even goes so far as to offer a translation for 17:21, "in your hearts." This seems to point to an individual interpretation, as other examples in LSJ also seem to do.

Gerard