22 Wim Hendriks For a more detailed description see Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, by Johannes Petrus Louw and Eugene Albert Nida. a point of time immediately subsequent to a previous point of time (the actual interval of time differs appreciably, depending upon the nature of the events and the manner in which the sequence is interpreted by the writer) – ‘immediately, right away, then.’ Mt 24:29 εὐθέωσ δὲ μετὰ τὴν θλῖψιν τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐκείνων ὁ ἥλιοσ σκοτισθήσεται, “immediately after the trouble of those days the sun will grow dark.” 3 John 14 ἐλπίζω δὲ εὐθέωσ σε ἰδεῖν, “I hope to see you right away.” It is impossible to determine from the context whether εὐθέωσ in 3 John 14 should be understood as referring to a very short lapse of time and therefore be rendered as ‘very soon,’ or whether it refers to the very next event which is relevant to the total context.3 However, the common view that εὐθέωσ is regularly an adverb of time in the NT needs to be questioned because on several occasions the trans- lation immediately does not make any sense. I will discuss two passages where the translation of εὐθέωσ is problematic, namely 3 John 14 and Galatians 1:15-17. 1. Problematic Passages At the end of his letter to Gaius the presbyter John says that he has much more to write, but he would rather not write with pen and ink. He then continues: ἐλπίζω δὲ εὐθέωσ σε ἰδεῖν καὶ στόμα πρὸσ στόμα λαλήσομεν, “I hope to see you ‘εὐθέωσ’ and we will talk together face to face.” That the presbyter will visit the community of Gaius had been indicated earlier in this letter: ἐὰν ἔλθω, “if I come.” A similar state- ment is found in 2 John: ἐλπίζω γενέσθαι πρὸσ ὑμᾶσ καὶ στόμα πρὸσ στόμα λαλῆσαι, “I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face.” Compared with 2 John 12, the text of 3 John 14 adds the word εὐθέωσ. It is not very likely that this means that the announced visit will take place immediately. But if εὐθέωσ in this context does not mean immediately, what does it really mean? The phrase εὐθέωσ οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι in Galatians 1:15-17 continues to be a stumbling-block for translators and writ- 3 J.P. Louw - E.A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Seman- tic Domains, I: Introduction & Domains (New York 1988), § 67.53, 636.