For He sates the thirsting throat and the hungry throat He fills with good. Psalm 107:9 Robert Alter Throat – Robert Alter stresses the need to translate Hebrew terms consistently. His point is simple. Hebrew has a rather sparse vocabulary. Often a single Hebrew word has many different potential English translations. Since English style tends…
That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of My servant Abraham. Genesis 26:24 JPS Your father – It only happens three times. Genesis 28:13, Genesis 32:9…
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NASB For freedom – Paul is not a Stoic. That won’t mean much to you unless you know something about the Greek concept of freedom. To put it as simply as…
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Matthew 3:1 NASB Saying – Yesterday we discovered that the Hebrew expression le ʾmōr is not really a word to be translated. It is the Hebraic substitution for quotation marks. Now, when we look at the Greek text of Matthew, we find the…
Truett Haire, a long-time reader, has asked for prayer for his wife Laurita who has a severe case of COVID. She is taking Ivermectin. I will have an MRI on Thursday to determine possible damage to my knee from the accident in June. It didn’t show up until recently when I no longer had a…
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Genesis 9:8 NASB Saying – Note the same verse translated by Aryeh Kaplan: “God said to Noah and his sons with him.” [The Living Torah] And by Robert Alter: “And God said to Noah and to his sons with him.” [The Hebrew Bible]…
Consider these two images. Eve, the failure of humanity and Mary, the protector of the Church. Both mistaken mythology. You’ve come a long way, baby. At least that’s what the Church would like you to think.
Grant us grace, LORD, grant us grace. For we are sorely sated with scorn. Psalm 123:3 Robert Alter Grant – How did you come to believe? I’m not asking how you came into religion. That happens mostly by drifting through cultural or family expectations. No, I’m asking something else. How did you realize that God…
God has spoken once; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God; Psalm 62:11 [English] NASB Once; twice – You wouldn’t know it from reading this English translation, but the rabbis used this verse as a prooftext for the assertion that every verse in the Bible demands multiple interpretations. Why did they use this verse? …
Yesterday I took the train to Bologna. I visited four churches in the morning and shot this at San Paolo Maggorie. I thought I would give you the whole ceiling look and then zoom in on one part. BTW, shot without a tripod and some serious correction afterward. There was hardly any light on these…
