21 Λέγω Melding in the Septuagint and New Testament εἶπεν κύριος· Ἐκ Βασαν ἐπιστρέψω... The Lord said [to whoever might hear], “From Bashan I will bring [them] back...” (Ps 67:23) τινὲς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν εἶπον· Ἐν Βεελζεβοὺλ...ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια. But some of them said [to whoever might hear], “By Beelzebul...he casts out the demons.” (Luke 11:15) The brackets, [ ], indicate that the third complement may be omitted (null) only if the preceding linguistic context specifies its definite seman- tic content:5 καὶ ἐξολεθρευθήσεται ἡ πεδινή, καθὼς εἶπεν κύριος. And the plain will be destroyed just as the Lord said [that it would be destroyed] (Jer 31:8) οὐκ ἤθελεν εἰσελθεῖν, ὁ δὲ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἐξελθὼν παρεκάλει αὐτόν. He did not want to enter, but his father, going out, was urging him [to enter] (Luke 15:28) 2. Λέγω Melding as a Distinct Grammatical Phenomenon Λέγω melding occurs with verbs of communication that have a usage with exactly the same syntactic and semantic requirements as those noted for λέγω, including the requirement that an omitted third complement must have its definite semantic content specified in the previous context.6 Definite null complements receive development in Charles J. Fillmore, “’U’-Semantics, 5 Second Round,” Quaderni di Semantica 7 (1986) 49-58, and are treated in other linguistic approaches under the designations, “definite object deletion” in Anita Mittwoch, “Idioms and Unspecified N[oun] P[hrase] Deletion,” Linguistic Inquiry 2 (1971) 255-9, “latent ob- ject” in Peter Matthews, Syntax (Cambridge, 1981) 125-6, and “contextual deletion” in D. J. Alletron, Valency and the English Verb (New York 1982) 34, 68-70. Thus, this study does not address verbs of communication that require three arguments 6 but permit their third complement to be omitted even when its semantic content has not received prior clarification: ἀνακράζω (cry out, cf. 1 Kgs 12:24t; Ezek 9:1; Mark 1:24; Luke 23:18); διαμαρτύρομαι (declare solemnly: Gen 43:3b; Exod 19:23; 2 Kgs 17:13; Zech 3:6; Acts 2:40; 20:23; Heb 2:6); διδάσκω (teach: Jer 38:34; Matt 5:2; Heb 8:11); ἐξομολογέω (confess: Isa 45:24); ἐπιφημίζω (pledge: Deut 29:18); εὐαγγελίζω (preach the good news: Jer 20:15; Rev 14:6); εὔχομαι (pray: 2 Macc 9:13); κράζω (call: 2 Sam 19:5; Matt 8:29; 14:30; 15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:9; 27:23; Mark 3:11; John 1:15; 7:28, 37; 18:40; 19:6, 12; Acts 16:17; 19:28; Rev 6:10; 7:2, 10; 18:2, 18, 19; 19:7); λαλέω (speak: Gen 17:3; 23:8; 34:8, 20; 39:17; 41:9, 17; 42:22; 43:19; 50:4; Exod 6:12, 29; 7:9; 12:3; 14:1; 16:11, 12; 15:1; 30:11, 17, 22, 31; 31:1, 12; 32:7, 13; 40:1; Lev 1:1; 4:1, 2; 5:14, 20; 6:1, 12, 17, 18; 7:22, 23, 28, 29; 8:1; 9:3; 10:8, 19; 11:1, 2; 12:1; 13:1; 14:1, 33; 15:1; 17:1; 18:1; 19:1; 20:1; 21:1, 16; 22:1, 17, 26; 13:9, 23, 24, 26, 33, 34; 24:1, 13; 25:1; 27:1; Num 1:1, 48; 2:1; 3:5, 11, 14, 44; 4:1, 17, 21; 5:1, 5, 6, 11; 6:1, 22, 23; 8:1, 5, 23; 9:1, 9, 10; 10:1; 13:1; 15:17, 35; 16:5, 20, 23, 24, 26; 17:9, 16; 18:25; 19:1; 20:7; 23:26; 24:12; 25:10, 16a, 16b; 26:1, 3, 52; 27:6, 8, 18; 28:1; 30:2; 31:3, 25; 33:50; 34:1, 16; 35:1, 9; Deut 1:6; 2:17; 9:13; 20:5; 27:9; 32:48; Josh 20:1, 2; 22:15, 21; Judg 7:3; 9:1; 1 Sam 18:22; 25:40; 26:14; 2 Sam 3:18; 7:7; 19:12; 24:12; 1 Kgs 5:19; 8:15; 9:5; 12:3, 7, 10a, 10b, 12, 14, 24d, 24r; 13:12, 18, 22; 18:29, 31; 20:2, 6, 19, 23; 22:13; 2 Kgs 1:3, 7; 7:8; 8:1, 4; 9:2; 20:2; 21:10; 1 Chr 21:9, 10; 2 Chr 6:4; 10:7, 9, 10, 12, 14; 18:12; 32:6; Esth 3:8; Odes 7:36; Hagg 2:1; Zech 2:8b; 6:8; Isa 7:10; 20:2; 28:11; Jer 25:3; 34:12,