Anything above 30 degrees is fair game for beachgoing. Mid 40s today! Thing 1 celebrated in style. And, yes, that’s “our” lighthouse in the far distance.
Author: Abram K-J
I am a husband and father, a pastor, a runner, a writer, an editor, and a reviewer of cool stuff.
Greek Isaiah in a Year, Week 6=Isaiah 7:1-25
This week in Greek Isaiah in a Year we get to the famous and sometimes contested Isaiah 7:14. Here it is in Ottley’s Greek text, including his English translation:
διὰ τοῦτο δώσει Κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον· ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ·
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel.
Last week I hosted the Biblical Studies Carnival for December 2012. Here’s an excerpt of posts I linked to from December about Isaiah 7:14. There were even more than what I highlighted:
December saw a plethora of posts about παρθένος/עלמה in Isaiah 7:14, and Matthew’s use of that verse. Here is T.M. Law, saying that Greek Isaiah’s use of παρθένος for עלמה is not without precedent in the LXX (“The Greek translator of Isaiah used a perfectly acceptable rendering for עלמה.”). Here’s the Jesus Creed on the virgin birth. Krista Dalton notes, “[T]he author of Matthew is not saying that Isaiah was envisioning the birth of Jesus.” Kevin Brown of Diglotting posts here about it. And, looking at hermeneutics more generally, Brian LePort suggested three paradigms to use in studying the virgin birth.
So for this Week 6 of Greek Isaiah in a Year, we cover one chapter in its entirety, chapter 7. I’m looking forward to what I’m sure will be lively discussion on Wednesday at our Facebook group. Below 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. (As always, Ottley is here on Amazon, here in Logos, and here as a free, downloadable pdf in the public domain.) The full reading plan for our group is here (pdf).
Monday, January 7: Isa 7:1-4
7 1 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἀχὰζ τοῦ Ἰωαθὰμ τοῦ υἱοῦ Ὀζίου βασιλέως Ἰούδα ἀνέβη Ῥαασσὼν βασιλεὺς Ἀρὰμ καὶ Φάκεε υἱὸς Ῥομελίου βασιλεὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ πολεμῆσαι αὐτήν, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν πολιορκῆσαι αὐτήν. 2 καὶ ἀνηγγέλη εἰς τὸν οἶκον Δαυεὶδ λέγοντες Συνεφώνησεν Ἀρὰμ πρὸς τὸν Ἐφράιμ· καὶ ἐξέστη ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, ὅταν ὃν τρόπον ἐν δρυμῷ ξύλον ὑπὸ πνεύματος σαλευθῇ. 3 Καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος πρὸς Ἠσαίαν Ἔξελθε εἰς συνάντησιν Ἀχὰζ σὺ καὶ ὁ καταλειφθεὶς Ἰασσοὺβ ὁ <υἱός> σου πρὸς τὴν κολυμβήθραν τῆς ἄνω ὁδοῦ τοῦ ἀγροῦ τοῦ γναφέως. 4 καὶ ἐρεῖς αὐτῷ Φύλαξαι τοῦ ἡσυχάσαι καὶ μὴ φοβοῦ, μηδὲ ἡ ψυχή σου ἀσθενείτω ἀπὸ τῶν δύο ξύλων τῶν δαλῶν τῶν καπνιζομένων τούτων· ὅταν γὰρ ὀργὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ μου γένηται, πάλιν ἰάσομαι.
Tuesday, January 8: Isa 7:5-9
5 καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Ἀρὰμ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Ῥομελίου, ὅτι ἐβουλεύσαντο βουλὴν πονηρὰν περὶ σοῦ, λέγοντες 6 Ἀναβησόμεθα εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ συλλαλήσαντες αὐτοῖς ἀποστρέψωμεν αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ βασιλεύσομεν αὐτοῖς τὸν υἱὸν Ταβεήλ· 7 τάδε λέγει Κύριος σαβαώθ Οὐ μὴ ἐμμείνῃ ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη οὐδὲ ἔσται. 8 ἀλλʼ ἡ κεφαλὴ Ἀρὰμ Δαμασκός, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Δαμασκοῦ Ῥασείν· ἀλλʼ ἔτι ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν ἐκλείψει ἡ βασιλεία Ἐφράιμ ἀπὸ λαοῦ. 9 καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Ἐφράιμ Σομορών, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Σομορὼν υἱὸς τοῦ Ῥομελίου· καὶ ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδὲ μὴ συνῆτε.
Wednesday, January 9: Isa 7:10-14
10 Καὶ προσέθετο Κύριος λαλῆσαι τῷ Ἀχὰζ λέγων 11 Αἴτησαι σεαυτῷ σημεῖον παρὰ Κυρίου θεοῦ σου εἰς βάθος ἢ εἰς ὕψος. 12 καὶ εἶπεν Ἀχάζ Οὐ μὴ αἰτήσω, οὐδʼ οὐ μὴ πειράσω Κύριον. 13 καὶ εἶπεν Ἀκούσατε δή, οἶκος Δαυείδ· μὴ μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀγῶνα παρέχειν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ πῶς Κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἀγῶνα; 14 διὰ τοῦτο δώσει Κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον· ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ·
Thursday, January 10: Isa 7:15-19
15 βούτυρον καὶ μέλι φάγεται· πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι αὐτὸν προελέσθαι πονηρά, ἐκλέξεται τὸ ἀγαθόν· 16 διότι πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸν παιδίον ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν, ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν, καὶ καταλειφθήσεται ἡ γῆ ἣν σὺ φοβῇ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν. 17 ἀλλὰ ἐπάξει ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου ἡμέρας αἳ οὔπω ἥκασιν ἀφʼ ἧς ἡμέρας ἀφεῖλεν Ἐφράιμ ἀπὸ Ἰούδα, τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων. 18 Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ συριεῖ Κύριος μυίαις, ὃ κυριεύει μέρους ποταμοῦ Αἰγύπτου, καὶ τῇ μελίσσῃ ἥ ἐστιν ἐν χώρᾳ Ἀσσυρίων· 19 καὶ ἐλεύσονται πάντες καὶ ἀναπαύσονται ἐν ταῖς φάραγξιν τῆς χώρας καὶ ἐν ταῖς τρώγλαις τῶν πετρῶν καὶ εἰς τὰ σπήλαια καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ῥαγάδα καὶ ἐν παντὶ ξύλῳ.
Friday, January 11: Isa 7:20-25
20 ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ξυρήσει Κύριος τῷ ξυρῷ τῷ μεγάλῳ καὶ μεμεθυσμένῳ ὅ ἐστιν πέραν τοῦ ποταμοῦ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων, τὴν κεφαλήν, καὶ τὰς τρίχας τῶν ποδῶν, καὶ τὸν πώγωνα ἀφελεῖ. 21 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ θρέψει ἄνθρωπος δάμαλιν βοῶν καὶ δύο πρόβατα· 22 καὶ ἔσται ἀπὸ τοῦ πλεῖστον ποιεῖν γάλα, βούτυρον καὶ μέλι φάγεται πᾶς ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. 23 καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ πᾶς τόπος οὗ ἐὰν ὦσιν χίλιαι ἄμπελοι χιλίων σίκλων, εἰς χέρσον ἔσονται καὶ ἄκανθαν· 24 μετὰ βέλους καὶ τοξεύματος εἰσελεύσονται ἐκεῖ, ὅτι χέρσος καὶ ἄκανθα ἔσται πᾶσα ἡ γῆ· 25 καὶ πᾶν ὄρος ἀροτριώμενον ἀροτριαθήσεται· καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐπέλθῃ ἐκεῖ φόβος· ἔσται γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς χέρσου καὶ ἀκάνθης εἰς βόσκημα προβάτου καὶ εἰς καταπάτημα βοός.
See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah. Here are previous weeks’ readings: Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5
And here are the Week 6 readings above, but in pdf form.
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Books I have for sale
Having seen a blogging friend sell some used books through his blog, I thought I’d try the same.
So here are some books and reference works (including a little bit of Bible software) that I’m offering for sale at a discounted rate. I have them listed online elsewhere, but the lowest rate I offer is here. It’s also generally the lowest rate online for a used copy. All prices include free shipping to U.S. addresses. Interested in anything? Contact me using this form, and we’ll talk.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG)
for BibleWorks Software
Compatible with BibleWorks 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. I’ve been in touch with BibleWorks to confirm that on completion of sale, one user license transfers to the buyer with no fee, so that you can use BDAG in your BibleWorks. (Must have purchased and own BibleWorks to be able to use this.)
Significant discount from buying new (where it’s $150).
$119 (SOLD)
BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia), compact edition
Very Good condition
ISBN: 978-1598561630
No markings inside. Binding is a bit loose from front cover, but barely noticeable, and book is still in great shape.
$34 (SOLD)
A Handbook on the Books of Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah
(UBS Handbook)
Like New condition
ISBN: 978-0826701329
Barely used at all. Pulled off shelf just a couple of times.
$29 (SOLD)
The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament,
2 volume set (HALOT)
Very Good condition
ISBN: 978-9004124455
In great shape. Just some wear and tear. No internal markings. 2 volume study edition (same full contents as 5 vol. edition).
$179 (SOLD)
Note: I also have HALOT in BibleWorks (see BDAG note above). Would possibly consider an offer.
IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books
Very Good condition (2 available 1 available)
ISBN: 978-0830817825
No marking inside. Barely used. One has rubbing on page edges.
$33 (SOLD)
A Reader’s Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament
Very Good condition
ISBN: 978-0310369806
Former owner’s name on inside, no other markings. Small rip on top left corner of dustjacket, which has some other wear. Small crease on back cover of book, but does not affect integrity of book. Book itself in great shape. 720 pages.
All words that occur less than 50x in OT are listed in canonical order, verse-by-verse.
$39 (SOLD)
Luke (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)
(2 Volumes), by Bock
Very Good condition
ISBN: 978-0801010514
Hardly used. Only flaws: name inscribed on inside of one book, tiniest of rips on part of dust cover, small smudge mark on outside of pages. Inside clean.
$60 (SOLD)
1 Peter (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT), by Jobes
Very Good condition
Barely used: remainder mark, small dings on spine and corners of cover.
$22 (SOLD)
Free shipping on all orders. If you’re interested in buying–or just have questions–you can reach me using this form, and we’ll go from there.
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Traveling Mercies
The first thing I noticed when we got to my parents’ new home in South Carolina was the smell of the pines. The boys spent time outside there almost every day these last two weeks–the “cold” days there were high 40s, low 50s. It was truly good to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with beloved and loving family. I thought I’d miss “our” beach, but the woods made a fine substitute.
(Of course, as I watch the sun rise over the water and type back at home, I’m grateful for the living room ocean view.)
One cause for prayer before traveling to see family is traveling logistics. How will the kids do on the plane? In the car on the way to the airport? Will they skip naps due to travel, and will this mean utter mayhem later?
But on the way home yesterday, on the plane, this happened:
Great logistics, great trip. I’m thankful for my family, and so glad we K-Js got to be with them these last two weeks.
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How shall we sing hymns?
John Wesley (1703-1791) was an Anglican minister and theologian. His ministry (and that of his brother Charles Wesley) led to the creation of the Methodist Church, as well as other traditions that have their roots in Wesley: the Wesleyan holiness movement, Pentecostalism, and the Charismatic movement.
Wesley issued seven “Rules for Singing” in 1761. Here are some excerpts:
Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. …If it is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing.
Sing…with a good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength…. (AKJ: This is particular pertinent for those services that take place in the morning hours.)
Sing in time. Whatever time is sung, be sure to keep with it. Do not run before, not stay behind it; but attend closely to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can;
And take care you sing not too slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from among us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
Hymn tempo can be largely a subjective decision–some like it fast, some like it slow. But might singing “all our tunes just as quick” encourage more hearty singing? It seems Wesley thought so.
Regarding the call to “attend closely to the leading voices,” I find it particularly helpful when worshiping congregations have vocal leaders for hymns, especially if members of the congregation are not familiar with a given hymn. This may sound self-evident, but the majority of my hymn-singing experience has been in churches where the organist leads the hymn just from the organ. This works fine in a congregation that knows hymns and sings them well, but I’m not convinced it’s always the best approach to leading congregational hymns in worship.
Here’s my favorite part of Wesley’s rules:
Above all, sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. …[S]ee that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually.
I don’t think having “your heart… carried away with the sound” is mutually exclusive with offering it “to God continually,” but I love Wesley’s call to “have an eye to God in every word you sing.” We sing hymns best when we make them prayers to God, affirmations of our faith, even heartfelt confessions.
The rules in their entirety are here.
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Review of Beale’s Handbook at The Blog of the Twelve
I’ve just recently learned about The Blog of the Twelve. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s recommended reading, especially for folks with an interest in the Minor Prophets.
There is a good book review from that blog of G.K. Beale’s Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. (That book was a text for one of my classes this semester.) An excerpt:
The usefulness of this book can hardly be stated for those seeking to rightly handle the Scripture, whether student, pastor, or laity. Beale’s clear writing style, in addition to the uncharacteristic conciseness of the book, makes the method accessible to a wide audience. Furthermore, Beale, while emphasizing the indispensable value of learning the biblical languages, formats the book in such a way that those not familiar with Hebrew and Greek are able to profit just as well from the work.
Read the whole thing here.
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Greek Isaiah in a Year, Week 5=Isaiah 5:17-6:13
We are now in Week 5 of Greek Isaiah in a Year. Below is the schedule and text for Monday through Friday, using the text from R.R. Ottley’s Book of Isaiah According to the Septuagint. (Ottley is here on Amazon, here in Logos, and here as a free, downloadable pdf, since it’s public domain.) The full reading plan for our group is here (pdf).
Monday, December 31: Isa 5:17-21
17 καὶ βοσκηθήσονται οἱ διηρπασμένοι ὡς ταῦροι, καὶ τὰς ἐρήμους τῶν ἀπειλημμένων ἄρνες φάγονται.
18 Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπισπώμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὡς σχοινίῳ μακρῷ, καὶ ὡς ζυγοῦ ἱμάντι δαμάλεως τὰς ἀνομίας, 19 οἱ λέγοντες Τὸ τάχος ἐγγισάτω ἃ ποιήσει, ἵνα ἴδωμεν, καὶ ἔλθοι ἡ βουλὴ τοῦ ἁγίου <Ἰσραήλ>, ἵνα γνῶμεν. 20 Οὐαὶ οἱ λέγοντες τὸ πονηρὸν καλὸν καὶ τὸ καλὸν πονηρόν, οἱ τιθέντες τὸ σκότος φῶς καὶ τὸ φῶς σκότος, οἱ τιθέντες τὸ πικρὸν γλυκὺ καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ πικρὸν. 21 Οὐαὶ οἱ συνετοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἐνώπιον ἑαυτῶν ἐπιστήμονες.
Tuesday, January 1: Isa 5:22–26
22 Οὐαὶ οἱ ἰσχύοντες ὑμῶν οἱ τὸν οἶνον πίνοντες καὶ οἱ δυνάσται οἱ κεραννύντες τὸ σίκερα, 23 οἱ δικαιοῦντες τὸν ἀσεβῆ ἕνεκεν δώρων καὶ τὸ δίκαιον τοῦ δικαίου αἴροντες. 24 διὰ τοῦτο ὃν τρόπον καυθήσεται καλάμη ὑπὸ ἄνθρακος πυρός, καὶ συγκαυθήσεται ὑπὸ φλογὸς ἀνειμένης, ἡ ῥίζα αὐτῶν ὡς χνοῦς ἔσται, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτῶν ὡς κονιορτὸς ἀναβήσεται· οὐ γὰρ ἠθέλησαν τὸν νόμον Κυρίου σαβαώθ, ἀλλὰ τὸ λόγιον τοῦ <ἁγίου> Ἰσραὴλ παρώξυναν. 25 καὶ ἐθυμώθη ὀργῇ Κύριος σαβαὼθ εἰς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπέβαλεν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτούς· καὶ παρωξύνθη τὰ ὄρη, καὶ ἐγενήθη τὰ θνησιμαῖα αὐτῶν ὡς κοπρία ἐν μέσῳ ὁδοῦ. ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις οὐκ ἀπεστράφη ὁ θυμός, ἀλλʼ ἔτι ἡ χεὶρ ὑψηλή. 26 τοιγαροῦν ἀρεῖ σύσσημον ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν τοῖς μακρὰν καὶ συριεῖ αὐτοῖς ἀπʼ ἄκρου τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἰδοὺ ταχὺ κούφως ἔρχονται.
Wednesday, January 2: Isa 5:27–30
27 οὐ <πεινάσουσιν οὐδὲ> κοπιάσουσιν οὐδὲ νυστάξουσιν οὐδε κοιμηθήσονται, οὐδʼ οὐ μὴ λύσουσιν τὰς ζώνας αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ὀσφύος αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ μὴ ῥαγῶσιν οἱ ἱμάντες τῶν ὑποδημάτων αὐτῶν· 28 ὧν τὰ βέλη ὀξεῖά ἐστιν καὶ τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν ἐντεταμένα. οἱ πόδες τῶν ἵππων αὐτῶν ὡς στερεὰ πέτρα· ἐλογίσθησαν οἱ τροχοὶ τῶν ἁρμάτων αὐτῶν ὡς καταιγίς. 29 ὁρμῶσιν ὡς λέοντες, καὶ παρεστήκασιν ὡς σκύμνος λέοντος· καὶ ἐπιλήμψεται, καὶ βοήσεται ὡς θηρίον, καὶ ἐκβαλεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ῥυόμενος. 30 καὶ βοήσεται διʼ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ὡς φωνὴ θαλάσσης κυμαινούσης· καὶ ἐμβλέψονται εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἰδοὺ σκότος σκληρὸν ἐν τῇ ἀπορίᾳ αὐτῶν.
Thursday, January 3: Isa 6:1–7
6 1 Καὶ ἐγένετο τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ οὗ ἀπέθανεν Ὀζίας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἴδον τὸν κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου, καὶ πλήρης ὁ οἶκος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. 2 καὶ σεραφεὶν ἱστήκεισαν κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνί, καὶ ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνί· καὶ ταῖς μὲν δυσὶν κατεκάλυπτον τὸ πρόσωπον, καὶ ταῖς δυσὶν κατεκάλυπτον τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ταῖς δυσὶν ἐπέταντο. 3 καὶ ἐκέκραγον ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον καὶ ἔλεγον Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος Κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης πᾶσα ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. 4 καὶ ἐπήρθη τὸ ὑπέρθυρον ἀπὸ τῆς φωνῆς ἧς ἐκέκραγον, καὶ ὁ οἶκος ἐπλήσθη καπνοῦ. 5 καὶ εἶπα Ὦ τάλας ἐγώ, ὅτι κατανένυγμαι, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ὢν καὶ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχων ἐν μέσῳ λαοῦ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχοντος ἐγὼ οἰκῶ, καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Κύριον σαβαὼθ εἶδον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου. 6 καὶ ἀπεστάλη πρὸς μὲ ἓν τῶν σεραφείμ, καὶ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ εἶχεν ἄνθρακα πυρὸς ὃν τῇ λαβίδι ἔλαβεν ἀπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, 7 καὶ ἥψατο τοῦ στόματός μου καὶ εἶπεν Ἰδοὺ ἥψατο τοῦτο τῶν χειλέων σου, καὶ ἀφελεῖ τὰς ἀνομίας σου, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου περικαθαριεῖ.
Friday, January 4: Isa 6:8–13
8 καὶ ἤκουσα τῆς φωνῆς Κυρίου λέγοντος Τίνα ἀποστείλω, καὶ τίς πορεύσεται πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον; καὶ εἶπα Ἰδού εἰμι ἐγώ· ἀπόστειλόν με. 9 καὶ εἶπεν Πορεύθητι καὶ εἰπὸν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε. 10 ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν αὐτῶν βαρέως ἤκουσαν, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάμμυσαν, μή ποτε ἴδωσιν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσιν, καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσιν καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσιν, καὶ ἰάσομαι αὐτούς. 11 καὶ εἶπα Ἕως πότε, Κύριε; καὶ εἶπεν Ἕως ἂν ἐρημωθῶσιν πόλεις παρὰ τὸ μὴ κατοικεῖσθαι, καὶ οἶκοι παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἡ γῆ καταλειφθήσεται ἔρημος. 12 καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα μακρυνεῖ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ οἱ καταλειφθέντες πληθυνθήσονται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, 13 καὶ ἔτι ἐπʼ αὐτῆς ἐστιν τὸ ἐπιδέκατον, καὶ πάλιν ἔσται εἰς προνομήν, ὡς τερέβινθος καὶ ὡς βάλανος ὅταν ἐκσπασθῇ ἀπὸ τῆς θήκης αὐτῆς.
Happy New Year, and happy reading!
See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah. Here are previous weeks’ readings: Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4.
UPDATE: Here are the Week 5 readings above, but in pdf form.
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Keep ’em coming back with the December Biblical Studies Carnival
Charles Spurgeon is reported to have said, “If you have to give a carnival to get people to come to church, then you will have to keep giving carnivals to keep them coming back.”
And so we who blog in the fields of academic biblical studies and theology keep giving carnivals.
So let Words on the Word be among the first to wish you and yours a Happy New Year! Let’s welcome the year ahead with a recap of what went on in the so-called biblioblogosphere in December 2012.
Newtown, Connecticut, December 14
On December 14 there was the horrible news of a shooter who killed 26 other people at an elementary school in Newtown, CT, 20 of them young children. Peter Enns shared some thoughts from an unsettled state. Jim West wrote about it quite a bit and excoriated the NRA.
Nick Norelli rightly called the tragedy senseless. Robert Cargill weighed in on “The guns Adam Lanza used….” James Pate wondered whether the shooter had been loved in his life. Julie Clawson of onehandclapping mourns in the darkness on Advent 3. And Brian LePort–after posting his own reflections–provided a roundup of posts on the shooting. Lord, have mercy.
Year-End Lists, Learnings and New Year’s Resolutions
Scot McKnight lists the “Jesus Creed Books of the Year” here. Near Emmaus has the “Top Ten Books I Read This Year (2012).” Joel “1.21 JiggaWatts of Mark but not Q” Watts offered his books of the year. Nathan Smoyer shared 24 lessons learned in 2012. And here is Phil Long of Reading Acts with the 10 books in biblical studies he found most useful this past year. T.M. Law gives us “Tops for Twelve in Jewish and Christian History,” after “tops” lists on Bible and the HB/OT/LXX. Here is Robert Cornwall’s book list for 2012. Here is Nick Norelli’s book review list spanning this last year. Mark Roberts offers a Psalm and a prayer for the new year. Cliff at Theological Musings posts about books to read in 2013.
Joel lists the top five events in biblioblogging in 2012, while Rod at Political Jesus adds to the list.
While these next two weren’t year-end lists, per se, The Jesus Blog offers recommendations for five books to read on the historical Jesus, while Nijay Gupta suggests “five new interesting books on Jesus and the Gospels.”
NA28 Reviews
The reviews of the new Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament started rolling in. First note: it’s online for free. No apparatus, but the text is all here.
Reviewers in December included: Dan Wallace, Jim West (some nice pictures here, review here), Rick Brannan (here and here). Here is Chris Keith on Jude 5. And BLT (Bible * Literature * Translation) analyzes The Rhetoric of NA28©. Consider BLT’s post a meta-review of sorts.
Hebrew Bible/OT and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Brian Davidson at LXXI uses BibleWorks 9 to do a complex morphological search on a word in Genesis 10:19. A new blog, This Does What Now?, started in December, with a first entry on information structure in Jonah 1. John Cook discusses valency and verb theory in Biblical Hebrew.
The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library puts the DSS “finally at your fingertips.” As here:
A note in the about section of the site reads:
With the generous lead support of the Leon Levy Foundation and additional generous support of the Arcadia Fund, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google joined forces to develop the most advanced imaging and web technologies to bring to the web hundreds of Dead Sea Scrolls images as well as specially developed supporting resources in a user-friendly platform intended for the public, students and scholars alike.
A number of bloggers wrote about this, not a few of whom Jim McGrath links to.
That wasn’t all that went online in December. Evangelical Textual Criticism notes quite a few other manuscripts that are now online. (As proven by the fact that every word of that last phrase is its own hyperlink.) Charles Halton of awilum.com highlights the availability of A. Leo Oppenheim’s Ancient Mesopotamia as a free pdf. Readers of this carnival may also like to take some time with ASOR’s weekly archaeology roundups in December, here, here, and here.
Septuagint
December saw a plethora of posts about παρθένος/עלמה in Isaiah 7:14, and Matthew’s use of that verse. Here is T.M. Law, saying that Greek Isaiah’s use of παρθένος for עלמה is not without precedent in the LXX (“The Greek translator of Isaiah used a perfectly acceptable rendering for עלמה.”). Here’s the Jesus Creed on the virgin birth. Krista Dalton notes, “[T]he author of Matthew is not saying that Isaiah was envisioning the birth of Jesus.” Kevin Brown of Diglotting posts here about it. And, looking at hermeneutics more generally, Brian LePort suggested three paradigms to use in studying the virgin birth.
Speaking of Greek Isaiah… more than 150 of us are reading through Greek Isaiah in a Year. And writing about it, too. Suzanne at BLT covered appetite and desire, synonymous phrases (particularly at issue when comparing Isaiah 2 and Micah 4), and μητροπολις πιστη σιων as “the mother city of Zion.” Bob MacDonald posted on Isaiah 3 and 6. Brian LePort posted notes from Isaiah 1:1-25, 1:26-2:21, 2:22-3:21, and 3:22-5:16.
J.K. Gayle at The WOMBman’s Bible (“An Outsider’s Perspective on the Hebrew Males’ Hellene Book”) posted reflections from Greek Isaiah not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, but 7 times in December. Set aside some time and read them all.
Codex Sinaiticus dropped in price to just under $200 at CBD this month–a facsimile edition, that is. Theophrastus of BLT notes it here. He will later lament (which I, too, lament) that Oxford University Press no longer prints their wonderful Comparative Psalter. And while we’re on those Ψαλμοὶ, did their Greek translator(s) have Aristotle and Greek rhetoric in mind?
Read the Fathers posted a nice introduction to the Septuagint. (Go here for more info about taking part in that reading group.)
New Testament and Greek
Rod Decker wrote about understanding Greek and how to teach it. (Hint, via Decker: you can’t skip first year Greek.) Daniel Street suggested a Greek Students’ Liberation Movement when it comes to pedagogy.
Anthony Le Donne is taking on the Wikipedia entry on “Historical Jesus” (best biblioblog comment of the month: here). James Tabor asked how December 25 got to be the day we observe Jesus’ birthday (with more thoughts here). Mark Goodacre produced a Christmas NT Pod in which he “explores the differences between the Birth Narratives in Matt. 1-2 and Luke 1-2 and asks how this can be the case if Luke is familiar with Matthew.” The Sacred Page produced a podcast on “the first Christmas.” For a fresh translation of Luke 1:34-38 (with the Greek reproduced beneath the English), see “She spoke yet-Miriam did.” Daniel Street even gave us some Christmas songs in Greek!
Brian Davidson connects the salt verse of Matthew 5:13 to the rest of the beatitudes.
Theological Musings reviewed Charts on the Book of Hebrews, as well as Donald Hagner’s New Testament introduction.
James Tabor points out a common question readers of Paul come to: “Who is a Jew?” (However one answers the question, “Who Said Jews Aren’t Interested in Biblical Theology?” asks Joseph Kelly. And James G. Crossley notes some cautions here.) Readers of Paul also ask (and argue) about the “faith of Christ.” Kait Dugan relates pistis Christou to discipleship. Steven E. Runge’s NT Discourse blog featured an extended note on “exceptional exceptive clauses,” with Galatians 2:16 in view.
Theology
Anglican minister Rach Marszalek calls for nuance in discussions on the Trinity, as well as an appreciation of “the perichoretic beauty” of the Same. Read her “Eternal functional subordination and ontological equality?” here. While we’re on Anglicans, Brian LePort asks whether he needs a Bishop?
Gaudete Theology offers a feminist reading of “the bride of Christ” language. (“The image of the Bride of Christ needn’t be viewed only through the patriarchal perception of woman’s nature as inherently passive, docile, compliant, and receptive.”) Alice C. Linsley at Just Genesis would, I think, agree that the image and office of priest should also not be viewed through a patriarchal lens. She says, “Luther Was Wrong About the Priesthood.”
Rod at Political Jesus reviewed The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America. Larry Hurtado looks at Andrew Chester’s assessment of high Christology scholarship of late.
James Pate encourages inter-religious dialogue even for conservative Christians. He also writes about what Jonathan Edwards has to do with the historical-critical method (engaging this method may have felt inter-religious to Edwards). Jim McGrath engages the question (regarding a book with this title): Do Jews, Christians, and Muslims Worship the Same God?
Remnant of Giants suggests that it’s “time to put away the decaffeinated biblical criticism.”
December brought news of the Queen James Bible. Jim McGrath looks to get beyond it. BLT invites dialogue as to whether or not that Bible’s editors have achieved their aims.
And, finally, may I offer thanks to Amanda at Cheesewearing Theology for this excellent December 2012 theology roundup? She covers yet more territory in theology than I have already covered here. If you’re disappointed that this carnival is about over, spend time reading the posts she collects.
Ευχαριστω/תודה/Thank you
Thanks for coming, and keep coming back! I blog regularly, so feel free to follow/subscribe by going back up to the right sidebar of the blog.
Phil Long at Reading Acts is looking for volunteers for future carnivals. Let’s “keep giving carnivals”! Please check out his post and see what you think.
I don’t necessarily agree with the content of all these posts I’ve linked to, but I do find them worth a click and read. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
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2012 in review
The WordPress.com “stats helper monkeys” prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 32,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 7 Film Festivals.
Click here to see the complete report.
I enjoyed seeing what posts generated the most traffic, from what countries folks visited Words on the Word, and who the top five commenters were.
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Creating your own commentary in Accordance 10 (or just taking notes)
I’ve just this week gotten into a particular feature of Accordance Bible Software: the User Notes. As I’m doing some research and writing in the book of Romans right now, recording and storing my notes in Accordance itself is very easy–and fun.
I didn’t write about User Notes when I reviewed Accordance 10. It’s a standout feature, though, and very elegantly and smoothly produced by the developers.
In short, you can use User Notes to essentially create your own running commentary on the Bible–whether this is notes about various translations, insights into the original language, or thoughts about how a given text applies to you and the people with whom you are in community.
You can have the User Notes set up as a parallel text (i.e., in the image below, I can replace “GNT-T Notes” with my own notes) or as a tool in a different zone altogether. You can tie the tool to a text so that everything scrolls together verse-by-verse. This latter setup is how I prefer to work, as here (open image in new tab to see at full size):
Edit mode allows you to take notes on any verse. You simply go to a verse in the text, press the shortcut (command key + U), add your note, then click on update, and you’ve got a note. To edit an existing note, go to your notes that are in display mode, click and start typing. The edit window then opens.
You can automatically hyperlink any verse reference you list in a note. So in the “AKJV notes” that are in “display mode” above for Mark 1:2, I simply have to highlight Exodus 23:20, then click on “Make Link” for it to become hyperlinked. And as with other tools, it is easy to search notes by reference or content.
At present it is not possible to hyperlink to anything else in a note besides a verse. (So you can’t hyperlink to a Website, for example, though this would take you outside of the Accordance program anyway.) And live editing does not currently exist in User Notes (see here for more). But the ease with which I’ve been able to begin using and continue to make extensive use of the User Notes is commendable. I really like what Accordance has done here.
More details about User Notes can be found here in the Accordance online help files. And you can watch this video tutorial about the User Notes, too.
My full Accordance review is here.
