Today’s Word

The Consistency Rule

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…
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Skip the Line

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…
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The Law of Freedom

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…
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It’s an Idiom, Idiot! (2)

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…
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Divine Pity

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…
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