Woe, offending nation, people weighed down with crime, seed of evildoers, sons acting ruinously. They have forsaken the LORD, scorned Israel’s Holy One, they have fallen behind. Isaiah 1:4 Robert Alter Woe, offending nation – Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible attempts to use the same English words for the same Hebrew words whenever…
For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I admit my guilt; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. Psalm 38:17-18 NASB Admit my guilt – The Hebrew verb nāgad means “to make known.” TWOT elaborates, “to place a matter high, conspicuous before a person.”[1] In the social context of Israel, this…
For my life is exhausted in sorrow and my years in sighing. Through my crime my strength stumbles and my limbs are worn out. Psalm 31:11 (Hebrew Bible) Robert Alter Crime – Note Robert Alter’s remark: “The translation follows the Masoretic Text, which has ba’awoni here. But the Septuagint and the Peshitta read be’onyi, ‘in…
When the wicked perish there is rejoicing Proverbs 11:10 (Jonathan Sacks translation) When – Do you have a religious duty to report and testify against a criminal? While most of us might say, “Yes,” when it comes to actually following through, we are often much more hesitant. We imagine the protracted process of the courts,…
“so you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.” Numbers 35:33 NASB Expiation – We do not need forgiveness because God is…
