Need help understanding 'a lo lejos'
In the book of Hebrews in the NVI translation of the Bible, chapter 11, verse 13....
Todos ellos vivieron por la fe, y murieron sin haber recibido las cosas prometidas; más bien, las reconocieron a lo lejos.......
The Reina-Valera 1960 says; Conforme a la fe murieron todos éstos sin haber recibido lo prometido, sino mirándolo de lejos.......
The phrase that is making me crazy is a lo lejos. Is the letter (word) 'a' in the first example the 'personal pronoun'? If it is, why isn't it used in the second example?
The second example makes much more sense to me, I interpret it this way: mirándolo (they saw it, it being the promise) de lejos (from afar).
In the first example, I try to understand it this way: las (them, the direct object pronoun for 'things promised') reconocieron (they recognized) a (??) lo (??) lejos (far).
What is 'a' and 'lo' in the previous sentence? Since in this translation the promises are plural and the people are plural, what is 'lo' referring to in the singular? In the first example (mirándolo), the 'lo' is the singular 'promise'. In the second example, if 'a lo' is referring to the 'promise' why wouldn't it be plural, since it was previously written as 'cosas prometidas'?
I've got a feeling I've just made a mess of something.....
I would appreciate your thoughts, very much. Thanks!!
7 Answers
Jack, I love your questions, and I love that they are frequently based on the Bible.
"a lo lejos" is a fixed expression that means "in the distance". The "a" and the "lo" are not "personal a + direct object pronoun"; it's just an expression.
The NIV has "...No recibieron las cosas prometidas; más bien las vieron y las saludaron de lejos, y reconocieron que eran extranjeros y peregrinos en la tierra."
To return to the technical aspects, I suppose that if the NIV had flipped the verbs "ver" and "reconocer" in this verb, they would have also changed the "lejos" expression:..." las vieron a lo lejos y las saludaron..."
Great question Jack...have a great day!
a lo lejos - in the distance
de lejos - from a distance
Just to expand a bit on what MountainGirl has already said, while “a lo lejos” is a set expression, it might be helpful to recognize the way in which “lo” is being used in each sentence. In Spanish the 3rd person singular, atonic, direct object pronoun, “lo,” shares the same morphology as the neuter article (also “lo”) and the two uses should not be confused.
Acting as a pronoun, “lo” always accompanies a verb and acts as either a direct object or as a predicate nominal in a copulative sentence.
On the other hand, “lo” can be placed before an adjective (lo malo), adverb (lo lejos), relative clause (lo que), a participle (lo prometido) or prepositional construction (lo de…) in order to lend a nominal value to each, or said another way
Lo sirve para anunciar la condición circunstancialmente sustantiva de expresiones que, de ordinario, no la tienen; tales como adjetivos, participios, adverbios, pronombres posesivos u oraciones de relativo:
lo + lejos
In the expression that was giving you trouble (“a lo lejos”), placing the article (“lo”) before the adverb (“lejos” ) nominalizes the expression:
afar (adv) → a distance (nominalized meaning)
The use of “a”
Regarding the use of the preposition a, in this case it is acting to indicate the position of something. In other words it is used to express that something (las cosas prometidas/las) were seen/recognized (reconocieron) in a given location (a lo lejos – at a distance). Because the promises were “located” in the distance, they had never seen them up close but only recognized them “at a distance.” I hope that this does not confound things too terribly for you. Here are a few links that might be helpful for you
[neuter article: in Spanish]( http://culturitalia.uibk.ac.at/hispanoteca/gramáticas/Gramática española/Lo artículo neutro.htm)
[neuter article: in English]( http://www.webworkbooks.com/spanish/grammar/articles — the neuter article — lo)
They "saw it from afar" is what I understand it to mean, but then I use the RV not the NVI.
This is a rather theological questions so I'll answer it theologically. Hebrews 11 is the "Hall of Faith" or "Faith" chapter. The verse refers to the "promised" which in context is understood to mean the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his gift of Salvation. Hebrews 11 goes on to list all of the great men of faith of the Old Testament who looked ahead toward the completion of this promise although they did not see it in their lifetime. Simply put, we now look back at the gift of salvation as a fact since the events bringing it about have already occurred, but they had to look forward to it with great faith not knowing when the promise would happen -- thus the terminology "de lejos" since the fulfillment of the promise was at some unknown distance in the future.
A teeny tiny point - Catholic priests in church use the second person plural, "vosotros" when addressing a congreagation.
But in non-Catholic congregations I hear "usted/ustedes" when addressing a congregation here in the US. Interesting. The only time I hear the second person plural in my church is during scripture reading. Isn't that odd.
And another - it's very common in Central American countries to use the second person plural to one other person!! "Vos entendeis perfectamente lo que digo". I learnt about this when my late wife used to entertain Central American customers.
My friends from Honduras use "vos" all the time, but I've never heard them use the vosotros verb forms.
Thanks so much for this! Gives me even more to think about 
A teeny tiny point - Catholic priests in church use the second person plural, "vosotros" when addressing a congreagation.
And another - it's very common in Central American countries to use the second person plural to one other person!! "Vos entendeis perfectamente lo que digo". I learnt about this when my late wife used to entertain Central American customers.
mountaingirl wrote:
To return to the technical aspects, I suppose that if the NIV had flipped the verbs "ver" and "reconocer" in this verb, they would have also changed the "lejos" expression:..." las vieron a lo lejos y las saludaron..."
I am torn between translations. I absolutely love reading "Conforme a la fe murieron todos éstos sin haber recibido lo prometido, sino mirándolo de lejos, y creyéndolo, y saludándolo, y confesando que eran extranjeros y peregrinos sobre la tierra" from the Reina-Valera version, it just rolls off the tongue. My pastor says I should be using the NVI since I am learning Spanish, but my problem is, when scripture is read in church, it is always from the Reina-Valera, so it's harder to follow along with the NVI. So, I switched back to the Reina-Valera. My other problem is, nobody here uses the vosotros verb form, but the Reina-Valera does.
I wish there was a Spanish bible version that was like the Reina-Valera but didn't use the vosotros. The Reina-Valera is so poetic, it feels more like literature. I guess I just need to get used to the vosotros verb forms.
