ὄφελον

(for ὠφελον, without the augment, 2 aorist of ὀφείλω; in earlier Greek with an infinitive, as ὠφελον θανεῖν, I ought to have died, expressive of a wish, equivalent to would that I were dead; in later Greek it assumes the nature of an interjection, to be rendered) would that, where one wishes that a thing had happened which has not happened, or that a thing be done which probably will not be done (cf. Winers Grammar, 301f (283); Buttmann, § 150, 5): with an optative present Rev 3:15 Rec.; with an indicative imperfect, Rev. ibid. G L T Tr WH; 2 Cor 11:1 (Epictetus diss. 2, 18, 15; Ignatius ad Smyrn. c. 12 [ET]); with an indicative aorist, 1 Cor 4:8 (Ps 118:5; ὄφελον ἀπεθάνομεν, Ex 16:3; Num 14:2; Num 20:3); with the future, Gal 5:12 (Lucian, soloec. (or Pseudosoph.) 1, where this construction is classed as a solecism). Cf. Passow, ii., p. 603{a}; (Liddell and Scott, under the word ὀφείλω, II. 3).