I’ve been admiring the above piece all week in anticipation of Easter. (Click to enlarge) It’s from Chora Church in Istanbul. The Greek is ἡ ἀνάστασις, in all capital letters=the resurrection. The letters just above Jesus are the Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ.
Two blogs I read posted a similar icon this morning. I love how Jesus (Life) is touching Adam and Eve (death), pulling them out of their graves, from death to resurrection.
He is risen! Alleluia!
All day I’ve been trying to meditate on what Jesus’ disciples must have been feeling on the day between Good Friday and Easter.
Wait–before you go further, if you don’t think it’s too cheesy, listen to this while you read the rest of the post:
Saturday.
Many Western Christians know how to observe Good Friday and Easter. On Good Friday we call to mind our sins, the last words of Jesus on the cross, the shock and despair his followers experienced… and we try to imagine his suffering, entering in to that as best as we are able.
And then Easter is the party of all parties, when we declare the defeat of death: “Jesus Christ is no longer dead!”
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
But what about Saturday? The disciples didn’t have an “Easter” to look forward to. Jesus was done for, as far as they knew. He was really dead. When he did appear to the apostles, they were terrified and thought they were looking at a ghost. They weren’t even hopeful for resurrection–it hadn’t crossed their mind as an option.
So what some Orthodox call “Bright Saturday” was anything but bright for Jesus’ first followers. It was probably horrible. Awful Saturday. They felt as empty as the tomb was about to be. It was a Sabbath day, too, so they didn’t have any work to distract them. They were quiet. Or maybe they wailed loudly. Phillip Glass (the music you may have clicked on, above) makes a good soundtrack for trying to imagine the emptiness of that day.
In the loss of a loved one, the day of the beloved’s death is painful, and then there’s something about the second day that can be even more painful. The initial shock may begin to give way (but probably not really); reality sets in a little bit more. No, that wasn’t a bad dream–I’m still here, and my loved one really is… gone. Maybe the second day–Saturday–was even more difficult for the disciples than Friday.
At one point today I was thinking about the liminal nature of Saturday in Holy Week: it’s an often unnoticed, unmarked day that is situated between death (Good Friday) and life (Resurrection Sunday). How should I feel? Sad? Penitential? Happy? Pre-happy? Expectant? All or none of the above?
My church tradition has an Easter Vigil service on Saturday night, but just this simple offering for a Holy Saturday liturgy. We “await with him” and “rise with him” in that service’s Collect. This calls to mind Psalm 30:5, which says, “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Our Holy/Bright/Liminal Saturday is a short day, since we know of Resurrection Sunday’s shouts of acclamation and loud Alleluias.
But Saturday for the disciples was not liminal. It was not thought of as perched between death and life. That day and those men and women felt firmly ensconced in the grips of death. The closing anthem in the short Book of Common Prayer liturgy above begins, “In the midst of life we are in death….”
“We are in death.” Death Saturday. Awful Saturday.
Jesus’ followers had no clue what–or Who–was just around the corner….
Via Patheos, a beautiful Easter reflection from pastor and blogger Kara Root:
I need the Resurrection
because my sister is sick
and can’t afford insurance,
because I’ve told a weeping Haitian mom,
“No, I can’t take your son home with me.”
because I’ve been rushed off a Jerusalem street
so a robot could blow up a bag that could’ve blown up us.
because I’ve exploded
in rage
and watched their tiny faces cloud with hurt.
because evil is pervasive
and I participate.
I need the Resurrection
because it promises
that in the end
all wrongs are made right.
Death loses.
Hope triumphs.
And Life and Love
Prevail.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be reviewing IVP’s Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch in Logos Bible Software. I’ll look at a few dictionary articles in each post, commenting on the content of each, as well as on the dictionary’s presentation in Logos.
I’ve reviewed Logos 4 and 5, looking at several packages and additional resources. Find those reviews collected here.
The dictionary is easy to lay out in Logos with other accompanying resources. Here I have it next to the Hebrew text with English translation and a Hebrew lexicon (click to enlarge):
As with all of Logos’s resources, you can hover over hyperlinked words (see “Heb 7:2” above) to see the Scripture without leaving that tab.
One solid feature so far (true of Logos resources in general): being able to use the shortcut command (Mac) or control (PC) + F to quickly find words in the entries.
One thing to critique so far: the items in the Table of Contents don’t expand to all the subpoints. In the shot above, for example, you can see that “1. Prosopography” under Melchizedek has “1.1. Name” in the entry, but not in the left sidebar Table of Contents. This makes navigating through multiple layers of detail a bit more cumbersome. (By contrast, the Accordance version of this module looks like it has the triangle that continues to expand, here.)
What about content of the dictionary itself? In this installment, I summarize and review three articles: “Sarah,” “Melchizedek,” and “Language of the Pentateuch.”
Sarah
R.G. Branch notes that Sarah and other “matriarchs of God’s people” are “equally significant” compared to the “widely recognized Israelite patriarchs” (733). Chief among these is Sarah. Even if there is not the amount of biblical material about Sarah that there is about Abraham, she remains a “pivotal character” in Genesis (733).
Branch divides the “Sarah” entry into two parts: “Sarah in the Ancestral Narratives” and “Sarah in the Later Tradition.”
In the first part Branch notes that Sarah, about 10 years younger than Abraham, is “the first matriarch of the biblical text” (733). Her childlessness in Genesis 11:30 is a key characteristic. Her first mention in that passage describes her barrenness, which “sets the tone for the stories about them that follow” (733). Sarai and Sarah (her name after God changed it in Genesis 17) both mean “princess” or “chieftainess.” Genesis records several threats to the possibility of Abraham and Sarah bearing offspring, not the least of which is two stories (in Genesis 12 and 20, which Branch understands as two separate incidents) of “marital deception,” where Abraham claims Sarah as his sister (734).
“In both cases,” Branch notes, “Abram feared for his life because of his wife’s great beauty” (734). It is this beauty that is the focus of the second part of the article, “Sarah in Later Tradition.” Branch cites various Jewish sources that extol Sarah for her immense beauty. She is also said to have been “surrounded” by miracles (735).
Branch gives a good, basic summary of biblical and Jewish rabbinic material about Sarah (as well as her importance for understanding Elizabeth in the New Testament), with citations that the reader can follow up for more.
Key statement from this article is: “Many of the issues in the stories about the couple can be understood as their struggle to come to terms with God’s promises of land, offspring, greatness and blessings” (734).
Melchizedek
Scripture contains very few references to the mysterious figure of Melchizedek. S.J. Andrews recounts Abram’s encounter with Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20, which Psalm 110 (noted as a “royal Psalm”) cites. Andrews also does well in noting the book of Hebrews’ understanding and interpretation of Melchizedek.
In “Prosopography” Andrews notes the complications that arise in trying to understand the name malkîṣedeq. Hebrews reads it as “king of righteousness,” but Andrews notes scholarly disagreement on “whether it was originally a Northwest Semitic personal name (theophoric or descriptive) or a royal epithet” (563). Therefore, “The name could mean either ‘(my) Malk/Melek is just’ or ‘Ṣedeq is my king’” (563). Either way, Genesis calls him “king of Salem,” which could be Jerusalem, or just mean, “king of peace,” as in Hebrews 7:2.
The “Historical Account” section of the article delves more into the story of Abram’s victory of kings and subsequent exchange with Melchizedek, where the latter gives the former bread and wine and a blessing, and the former appears to tithe to the latter.
In the final section, “Messianic Application,” Andrews explores various possibilities for the appearance of Melchizedek, what it meant, possible connection to a Messiah, and so on.
Andrews says, “The Qumran text 11QMelch portrays Melchizedek as an archangelic figure like Michael” (564), but he could have perhaps gone into more depth about the Qumran understanding of Melchizedek. However, his basic overview serves as a solid starting point for understanding the Melchizedek figure in biblical tradition.
Language of the Pentateuch
R.S. Hess’s “Language of the Pentateuch” article consist of three sections: “A discussion of the history of languages in and around Palestine during the third and second millennia b.c., a consideration of the grammar and style of the Pentateuch’s language in comparison with Classical Hebrew, and a study of those linguistic elements within the Pentateuch that might relate it to the period in which the narratives and events recorded in Genesis through Deuteronomy claim to have taken place” (491).
He offers a survey of Pentateuchal chronology, marking the date of the exodus as “sometime between the fifteenth century b.c and the end of the thirteenth century b.c.” (492), part of the Late Bronze Age. The Hebrew language is part of a family of West or Northwest Semitic dialects. There are not immense differences between the language of the Pentateuch and the language of (presumably) later Old Testament texts, but Hess does point out research around some “distinctive elements found in the Pentateuch that might set it apart from the grammar of the remainder of biblical Hebrew” (493), though these are few. Hess holds to an “early date” for at least the initial writing of the Pentateuch.
This particular article was a bit dry at times, but the level of detail is still to be appreciated.
So far my overall impression of the dictionary is positive. I will write more about it later. UPDATE: Part 2 is here.
The Dictionary is on Amazon here (in print) and at Logos here. My thanks to Logos for the review copy.
This week in Greek Isaiah in a Year covers Isaiah 22 in its entirety.
Here is the schedule and text for Monday through Friday, using again the text from R.R. Ottley’s Book of Isaiah According to the Septuagint. Ottley is also here in Logos (reviewed here) and here as a free, downloadable pdf in the public domain. The full reading plan for our group is here (pdf).
Monday, March 25: Isa 22:1-6
Τὸ ὅραμα τῆς φάραγγος Σιών
22 1 Τί ἐγένετό σοι νῦν, ὅτι ἀνέβητε πάντες εἰς δώματα μάταια; 2 ἐνεπλήσθη ἡ πόλις βοώντων, οἱ τραυματίαι σου οὐ τραυματίαι μαχαίρας, οὐδὲ οἱ νεκροί σου νεκροὶ πολέμου. 3 πάντες οἱ ἄρχοντές σου πεφεύγασιν, καὶ οἱ ἁλόντες σκληρῶς δεδεμένοι εἰσίν, καὶ οἱ ἰσχύοντες ἐν σοὶ πόρρω πεφεύγασιν. 4 διὰ τοῦτο εἶπα Ἄφετέ με, πικρῶς κλαύσομαι· μὴ κατισχύσητε παρακαλεῖν με ἐπὶ τὸ σύντριμμα τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ γένους μου. 5 ὅτι ἡμέρα ταραχῆς καὶ ἀπωλείας καὶ καταπατήματος, καὶ πλάνησις παρὰ Κυρίου σαβαώθ· ἐν φάραγγι Σιὼν πλανῶνται, ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου πλανῶνται ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη. 6 οἱ δὲ Ἐλαμεῖται ἔλαβον φαρέτρας, ἀναβάται ἄνθρωποι ἐφʼ ἵπποις, καὶ συναγωγὴ παρατάξεως.
Tuesday, March 26: Isa 22:7-10
7 καὶ ἔσονται αἱ ἐκλεκταὶ φάραγγές σου, πλησθήσονται ἁρμάτων, οἱ δὲ ἱππεῖς ἐμφράξουσι τὰς πύλας σου, 8 καὶ ἀνακαλύψουσιν τὰς πύλας Ἰούδα· καὶ ἐμβλέψονται τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ εἰς τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς οἴκους τῆς πόλεως, 9 καὶ ἀνακαλύψουσιν τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν οἴκων τῆς ἄκρας Δαυείδ. καὶ εἴδοσαν ὅτι πλείους εἰσίν, καὶ ὅτι ἀπέστρεψαν τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς ἀρχαίας κολυμβήθρας εἰς τὴν πόλιν, 10 καὶ ὅτι καθείλοσαν τοὺς οἴκους Ἰερουσαλὴμ εἰς ὀχύρωμα τοῦ τείχους τῇ πόλει.
Wednesday, March 27: Isa 22:11-15
11 καὶ ἐποιήσατε ἑαυτοῖς ὕδωρ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο τειχέων, ἐσώτερον τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς ἀρχαίας, καὶ οὐκ ἐνεβλέψατε εἰς τὸν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ποιήσαντα αὐτήν, καὶ τὸν κτίσαντα αὐτὴν οὐκ εἴδετε. 12 καὶ ἐκάλεσεν Κύριος σαβαὼθ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ κλαυθμὸν καὶ κοπετὸν καὶ ξύρησιν καὶ ζῶσιν σάκκων, 13 αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐποιήσαντο εὐφροσύνην καὶ ἀγαλλίαμα, σφάζοντες μόσχους καὶ θύοντες πρόβατα, ὥστε φαγεῖν κρέα καὶ πιεῖν οἶνον, λέγοντες Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνήσκομεν. 14 καὶ ἀνακεκαλυμμένα ταῦτά ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς ὠσὶν Κυρίου σαβαώθ, ὅτι οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν αὕτη ἡ ἁμαρτία ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνητε.
15 Τάδε λέγει Κύριος σαβαώθ Πορεύου εἰς τὸ παστοφόριον πρὸς Σόμναν τὸν ταμίαν καὶ εἰπὸν αὐτῷ
Thursday, March 28: Isa 22:16-20
16 Τί σὺ ὧδε, καὶ τί σοί ἐστιν ὧδε ὅτι ἐλατόμησας σεαυτῷ ὧδε μνημεῖον, καὶ ἐποίησας σεαυτῷ ἐν ὑψηλῷ μνημεῖον, καὶ ἔγραψας σεαυτῷ ἐν πέτρᾳ σκηνήν; 17 ἰδοὺ δὴ Κύριος σαβαὼθ ἐκβαλεῖ καὶ ἐκτρίψει ἄνδρα, καὶ ἀφελεῖ τὴν στολήν σου καὶ τὸν στέφανόν σου τὸν ἔνδοξον, 18 καὶ ῥίψει σε εἰς χώραν μεγάλην καὶ ἀμέτρητον, καὶ ἐκεῖ ἀποθανῇ· καὶ θήσει τὸ ἅρμα σου τὸ καλὸν εἰς ἀτιμίαν, καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἄρχοντός σου εἰς καταπάτημα, 19 καὶ ἀφαιρεθήσει ἐκ τῆς οἰκονομίας σου καὶ ἐκ τῆς στάσεώς σου. 20 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ καλέσω τὸν παῖδά μου Ἐλιακεὶμ τὸν τοῦ Χελκίου,
Friday, March 29: Isa 22:21-25
21 καὶ ἐνδύσω αὐτὸν τὴν στολήν σου, καὶ τὸν στέφανόν σου δώσω αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ κράτος, καὶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν σου δώσω εἰς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἔσται ὡς πατὴρ τοῖς ἐνοικοῦσιν ἐν Ἰερουσαλὴμ <καὶ τοῖς ἐνοικοῦσιν ἐν Ἰούδᾳ>. 22 καὶ δώσω τὴν δόξαν Δαυεὶδ αὐτῷ, καὶ ἄρξει, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἀντιλέγων, καὶ δώσω τὴν κλεῖδα οἴκου Δαυεὶδ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνοίξει καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἀποκλείσων, καὶ κλείσει καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἀνοίγων. 23 καὶ στήσω αὐτὸν ἄρχοντα ἐν τόπῳ πιστῷ, καὶ ἔσται εἰς θρόνον δόξης τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. 24 καὶ ἔσται πεποιθὼς ἐπʼ αὐτὸν πᾶς ἔνδοξος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου, καὶ ἔσονται ἐπικρεμάμενοι ἐν αὐτῷ, 25 ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ. τάδε λέγει Κύριος σαβαώθ· κινηθήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἐστηριγμένος ἐν τόπῳ πιστῷ, καὶ πεσεῖται καὶ ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἡ δόξα ἡ ἐπʼ αὐτόν, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν.
See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.
And here are the Week 17 readings above, in pdf form.
Bacon strikes again. My father-in-law has recently been (quite successfully) baking bacon, rather than cooking it on the stove. It’s crispier and somehow more succulent and tasty. Mmmm… bacon. We do it that way now, and it looks like this:
Cook it on just under 300 degrees for anywhere between 45-60 minutes. Yes, it takes about an hour to get it right. But if you time it to be ready with the rest of your breakfast, it’s worth the wait.
And, yes, you may pin this. Just use the button on the right at the bottom of this post.
I would like to thank the snow for making such a breakfast possible this morning.
This week in Greek Isaiah in a Year covers Isaiah 20 and 21–two full chapters! And this time, I’m including an English translation–one that is in the public domain by R.R. Ottley.
Here is the schedule and text for Monday through Friday, using again the text from Ottley’s Book of Isaiah According to the Septuagint. Ottley is also here in Logos (reviewed here) and here as a free, downloadable pdf in the public domain. The full reading plan for our group is here (pdf).
Monday, March 18: Isa 20:1-3
20 1 Τοῦ ἔτους οὗ εἰσῆλθεν Ναθὰν εἰς Ἄζωτον, ἡνίκα ἀπεστάλη ὑπὸ Ἀρνὰ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ ἐπολέμησεν τὴν Ἄζωτον καὶ κατελάβετο αὐτήν, 2 τότε ἐλάλησεν Κύριος πρὸς Ἠσαίαν λέγων Πορεύου καὶ ἄφελε τὸν σάκκον ἀπὸ τῆς ὀσφύος σου, καὶ τὰ σανδάλιά σου ὑπόλυσαι ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν σου, καὶ ποίησον οὕτως, πορευόμενος γυμνὸς καὶ ἀνυπόδητος. 3 καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος Ὃν τρόπον πεπόρευται Ἠσαίας ὁ παῖς μου γυμνὸς καὶ ἀνυπόδετος, τρία ἔτη ἔσται σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ Αἰθίοψιν·
20 1 In the year when Tartan came to Azotus, when he was sent by Sargon king of the Assyrians, and warred against Azotus and took it,
2 Then spake the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go, and take off the sackcloth from thy loins, and loose thy shoes from thy feet, and so do, walking naked and barefoot.
3 And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot, three years there shall be signs and wonders to the Egyptians and Ethiopians.
Tuesday, March 19: Isa 20:4-6
4 ὅτι οὕτως ἄξει βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίων τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Αἰγύπτου καὶ Αἰθιόπων, νεανίσκους καὶ πρεσβύτας, γυμνοὺς καὶ ἀνυποδέτους, ἀνακεκαλυμμένους, τὴν αἰσχύνην Αἰγύπτου. 5 καὶ αἰσχυνθήσονται ἡττηθέντες οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ἐπὶ τοῖς Αἰθίοψιν, ἐφʼ οἷς ἦσαν πεποιθότες οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι, ἦσαν γὰρ αὐτοῖς δόξα. 6 καὶ ἐροῦσιν οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ταύτῃ Ἰδοὺ ἡμεῖς ἦμεν πεποιθότες τοῦ φυγεῖν εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰς βοήθειαν, οἳ οὐκ ἠδύναντο σωθῆναι ἀπὸ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων· καὶ πῶς ἡμεῖς σωθησόμεθα;
4 For thus shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the captivity of Egypt and of the Ethiopians, young men and old men, naked and barefoot, uncovered, the shame of Egypt.
5 And the Egyptians shall be ashamed and discomfited concerning the Ethiopians, upon whom the Egyptians had trusted, for they were their glory.
6 And they that dwell in this isle shall say, Behold, we had trusted to flee unto them for help, who could not be saved from the king of the Assyrians; and how shall we be saved?
Wednesday, March 20: Isa 21:1-5
Τὸ ὅραμα τῆς ἐρήμου
21 1 Ὡς καταιγὶς διʼ ἐρήμου διέλθοι, ἐξ ἐρήμου ἐρχομένη ἐκ γῆς, φοβερὸν 2 τὸ ὅραμα, καὶ σκληρὸν ἀνηγγέλη μοι. ὁ ἀθετῶν ἀθετεῖ, ὁ ἀνομῶν ἀνομεῖ. ἐπʼ ἐμοὶ οἱ Ἐλαμεῖται, καὶ οἱ πρέσβεις τῶν Περσῶν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ ἔρχονται. νῦν στενάξω καὶ παρακαλέσω ἐμαυτόν. 3 διὰ τοῦτο ἐνεπλήσθη ἡ ὀσφύς μου ἐκλύσεως, καὶ ὠδῖνες ἔλαβόν με ὡς τὴν τίκτουσαν· ἠδίκησα τὸ μὴ ἀκοῦσαι, ἐσπούδασα τὸ μὴ βλέπειν. 4 ἡ καρδία μου πλανᾶται καὶ ἡ ἀνομία με βαπτίζει, ἡ ψυχή μου ἐφέστηκεν εἰς φόβον. 5 ἑτοίμασον τὴν τράπεζαν, πίετε, φάγετε· ἀνάσταντες οἱ ἄρχοντες ἑτοιμάσατε θυρεούς,
The vision of the desert.
21 1 As a tempest passeth through the desert, coming from a desert, from the land. Fearful
2 is the vision, and hard, that was proclaimed to me. He that setteth at nought doth set at nought, and he that transgresseth doth transgress.
The Elamites are upon me, and the envoys of the Persians are coming against me. Now will I mourn, and will comfort myself.
3 Therefore are my loins filled with faintness, and pangs have taken hold of me, as her that travaileth; I did wrong, so as not to hear, I laboured earnestly so as not to see.
4 My heart wandereth, and my transgression overwhelmeth me; my soul turneth to fear.
5 Prepare the table, drink, eat; stand up, ye rulers, and prepare shields.
Thursday, March 21: Isa 21:6-11
6 ὅτι οὕτως εἶπεν Κύριος πρὸς μέ Βαδίσας σεαυτῷ στῆσον σκοπόν, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ἴδῃς ἀνάγγειλον. 7 καὶ ἴδον ἀναβάτας ἱππεῖς δύο, ἀναβάτην ὄνου καὶ ἀναβάτην καμήλου. ἀκρόασαι ἀκρόασιν πολλήν, 8 καὶ κάλεσον Οὐρείαν εἰς τὴν σκοπιὰν Κυρίου. καὶ εἶπεν Ἔστην διὰ παντὸς ἡμέρας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρεμβολῆς ἔστην ὅλην τὴν νύκτα, 9 καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἔρχεται ἀναβάτης συνωρίδος. καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν Πέπτωκεν Βαβυλών, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἀγάλματα αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ χειροποίητα αὐτῆς συνετρίβησαν εἰς τὴν γῆν. 10 ἀκούσατε οἱ καταλελιμμένοι καὶ ὀδυνώμενοι, ἀκούσατε ἃ ἤκουσα παρὰ Κυρίου σαβαώθ· ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀνήγγειλεν ἡμῖν.
Τὸ ὅραμα τῆς Ἰδουμαίας.
11 Πρὸς ἐμὲ καλεῖτε παρὰ τοῦ Σηείρ Φυλάξετε ἐπάλξεις.
6 For thus saith the Lord to me, Go, set thee a watchman, and whatsoever thou seest, tell it.
7 And I saw two mounted horsemen, one mounted an an ass, and one mounted on a camel. Hear with diligent hearing,
8 And call Uriah to the watch tower of the Lord. And he said, I have stood continually by day, and over the camp I stood the whole night,
9 And behold, he himself cometh, mounted on a two-horse chariot. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen: and all her mages and the works of her hands are crushed into the earth.
10 Hear, ye that are left, and are in anguish, hear what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts: the God of Israel hath proclaimed it to us.
The vision of Idumæa.
11 To me ye call from Seir, Watch ye (the) battlements.
Friday, March 22: Isa 21:12-17
12 φυλάσσω τὸ πρωὶ καὶ τὴν νύκτα· ἐὰν ζητῇς ζήτει, καὶ παρʼ ἐμοὶ οἴκει, 13 ἐν τῷ δρυμῷ ἑσπέρας κοιμηθήσῃ, ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ Δαιδάν. 14 εἰς συνάντησιν ὕδωρ διψῶντι φέρετε, οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες ἐν χώρᾳ Θαιμάν, ἄρτοις συναντᾶτε τοῖς φεύγουσιν 15 διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν φευγόντων καὶ διὰ τὸ πλήθος τῶν πλανωμένων καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς μαχαίρας καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τοξευμάτων τῶν διατεταμένων καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πεπτωκότων ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ. 16 ὅτι οὕτως εἶπέν μοι Κύριος Ἔτι ἐνιαυτὸς ὡς ἐνιαυτὸς μισθωτοῦ, ἐκλείψει ἡ δόξα τῶν υἱῶν Κηδάρ, 17 καὶ τὸ κατάλοιπον τῶν τοξευμάτων τῶν ἰσχυρῶν υἱῶν Κηδὰρ ἔσται ὀλίγον, διότι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραήλ.
12 I watch at morning, and through the night; if thou inquire, inquire, and dwell beside me.
13 In the forest shalt thou lie down at evening, in the way of Dedan.
14 Bring water to the thirsty to meet him, ye that dwell in the and of Teman; meet ye with loaves them that flee,
15 Because of the multitude of them that flee, and because of the multitude of them that wander, and because of the multitude of the sword, and because of the multitude of the bows that are bent, and because of the multitude of them that are fallen in the war.
16 For thus said the Lord to me, Yet a year, as the year of an hireling, the glory of the sons of Kedar shall fail,
17 And the remnant of the bows of the strong sons of Kedar shall be few; for the Lord, the God of Israel, hath spoken.
See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.
And here are the Week 16 readings above, but in pdf form.
Here are five children’s magazines we particularly enjoy reading to our two-year-old and five-year-old:
“My First Hidden Pictures” and “That’s Silly!” are two favorite features of the magazine. It says it’s for ages 2 to 6, but it’s hard to imagine any two-year-old tracking with it. Better for slightly older kids.
It comes from the National Wildlife Federation. Given our five-year-old’s penchant for all things animal kingdom, this one is a hit. Today we learned from the April 2013 issue that giant tortoises can live to be 150 years old. Whoa.
From the Cricket Magazine Group, Ladybug is the next age level up from Babybug (see below). Max and Kate are a fun ongoing storyline each month. Our five-year-old transitioned to this a year or more ago when he was getting too old for Babybug.
The awesomeness of this magazine caught us all unaware–I’d never heard of it before a grandparent-sponsored subscription began arriving in the mail. The March 2013 issue theme is “The deep blue sea.” Our five-year-old did the “make a fish” project on his own right away, with some scissors and glue. The magazine’s “Ocean Zones” section this month introduced us to the sunlight zone, the twilight zone, and the midnight zone, each of which support interesting and diverse kinds of life.
I just found out that Click is part of the same family as Ladybug and as…
Babybug is really sweet. It is “for babies who love to be read to and for the adults who love to read to them.” (It’s good for toddlers, too.) Kim and Carrots is a favorite each month, and always seems to be appropriately themed for the time of year. Simple yet engaging illustrations go with memorable and fun-to-read poetry. No part of the magazine is more than three pages, so not a long attention span is required. It’s not uncommon for us to ask our two-year-old to pick some books to read, and for him to come to us with three Babybugs.
(It’s also not uncommon for me to walk in to the living room from the back of the house and see my five-year-old curled up on the couch with a New Yorker.)
How about any of you who regularly read to children? What magazines do you recommend?
“North American Field Song,” by the Innocence Mission:
Lyrics:
Raincoats, Finlandia,
Raincoats and lakes.
The best words, I take along
in my field bag.
Across the morning, the beautiful air,
I will be aware.
I’ll speak if I dare,
and
Stay calm,
stay calm, stay calm,
stay calm in the meantime,
Stay calm,
stay calm, stay calm,
through the red and the green light,
stay calm.
No one can be so embarrassed as me,
I say to these trees,
where I walk with my head down.
Across the morning, the beautiful air,
I will be aware
my Father is there
and stay calm….
Words on the Word 
