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).
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).
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.
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?
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.
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.
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 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).
Bible translators stand at the intersection of the biblical world and their own, with the task of communicating an ancient text in a contemporary language. The Greek translator of Isaiah provides interesting examples of the issues and problems this task presents. For instance, he sometimes substituted the more familiar names of local Greek deities in place of the long-forgotten names of pagan Semitic deities being denounced. Is it “right” to substitute contemporary terms that would clearly communicate the message to the readers in place of ancient terms and idioms that would be accurate but meaningless? Where do accuracy and clarity meet in “getting it right”?
Sharpen your knife and your priestly reflexes: are you ready for the Ultimate Rule Book? Leviticus!
Play the role of a busy priest working to keep God happy by sacrificing choice offerings of sheep, goats, and bulls with frantic speed and slicing precision. Combo your actions and the rewards get BIBLICAL!
Three sacrificial services a day, seven days a week. Can YOU make it to Shabbat? Download Leviticus! and start swiping to find out!
That’s the real description of this real iPhone and iPad app: Leviticus! It sounds like Fruit Ninja meets the Hebrew Bible.
I don’t think Leviticus can be wholly reduced to a rule book (it is also all about covenant), and I don’t think sacrifices are best described as just an attempt to “keep God happy,” but there is a lot of detail in Leviticus that most of us struggle through when (if) we read it.
Here’s a screen shot. Not for the weak of stomach, though neither is Leviticus the book:
Titled Leviticus!, the game, as its title suggests, is both irreverent and deeply faithful to the source text—all that business about doves and cows and purity is right there in the book. But whereas Leviticus is too thick with rules to make for a very compelling read, it’s perfect when played.
As irreverent as this game first seemed to me, it may actually help one better understand the book. At least, that’s one of its purposes, according to the creator:
And education is at the heart of [Sarah] Lefton’s efforts. The game, she hopes, will do more than just amuse. “We brought something to very visual life that’s normally left on the page,” she said, “and that a lot of people just never study.” Believing that Jewish literacy and digital literacy make for excellent bedfellows—learning how to code and create applications that, in turn, are designed to enhance Jewish education and engagement—she now has future plans that involve not only the production of more games like Leviticus!, but also workshops teaching students and educators how to create their own Jewish-themed software.
The app is free, and found here. I don’t have an iPhone or iPad, so if anyone reading this downloads and tries it, I’d love to hear more about what you think. And it’s not April 1, so, as far as I know, the app is real.
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).
This week in Greek Isaiah in a Year covers Isaiah 14:28-16:10. I’ve been behind off and on the last few weeks, but am caught up now. It’s amazing how even five verses a day can be a challenge to keep up with.
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 (pictured at left; click on image to go to Amazon product page). Ottley is also here in Logos (I reviewed that edition here) and here as a free, downloadable pdf in the public domain. The full reading plan for our group is here (pdf).
Miles Van Pelt keeps turning out the hits. Through Zondervan he has published resources that fill a gap in original language learning in biblical studies. I’ve reviewed (with approval) his Biblical Hebrew: A Compact Guide, his Basics of Biblical Aramaic, and have been grateful in my Göttingen Septuagint primer to link to a short two-page abbreviations sheet he produced for that critical edition of the Septuagint.
The DVDs work “chapter by chapter, section by section” through Pratico and Van Pelt’s Basics of Biblical Hebrew grammar textbook. The videos are “the basic content in lecture form for the grammar.” Here’s how Van Pelt recommends using the DVDs:
Each DVD chapter corresponds to a chapter in the textbook. The DVDs come with a pdf file that includes summary charts. Throughout the lectures Van Pelt refers to these charts and the screen moves to them as he is speaking.
There is nothing particularly novel or revolutionary in the videos that is not already covered to some degree in the textbook. But especially for a student who is making her or his way through the book alone, the video lectures serve to reinforce the material in a new medium. Even a student taking a course with a live lecturer could benefit from watching these alongside the class.
Van Pelt is a solid lecturer. If not overly exciting, he communicates concepts clearly. For just about anyone making their way through the grammar, it will be easy to follow these lectures.
He offers good study tips in the introduction, and continues to encourage learners throughout the 36 lectures. My favorite tip: “Begin reading your Hebrew Bible as soon as possible,” and, “Take that Bible with you everywhere.” I remember that often in my first year of Hebrew (I used the Van Pelt and Pratico text), I wanted to just be able to read the Hebrew Bible. There are examples throughout the grammar from the Bible, but learning charts and paradigms first can be tedious. This is perhaps a necessary tedium.
Or is it? Some people disagree that paradigm memorization outside the context of a text or conversation is ideal pedagogy for language learning. (Look at how babies acquire language, after all, the argument goes–by hearing, talking, etc., not by memorizing grammatical rules.) Even dead or ancient languages should be taught as “living languages,” proponents say. So some Hebrew textbooks encourage instead a text-based inductive approach.
Van Pelt at one point in the lectures says, “Languages are meant to be accessed and decoded in your mind,” though “decoding” is something a language learner ought to try to move away from as quickly as possible, as she or he seeks fluency. And an early strong verb paradigm has Van Pelt saying, “You must memorize this paradigm, like a ROBOT!”
Hebrew and other languages have been taught this way for a long time, and some language learners may not mind it. I, for example, find paradigm memorization tedious, but not overly difficult. If I have an end goal firmly in mind–reading the Hebrew Bible–I have motivation to repeatedly go over verb conjugations.
But I don’t think this approach will work for everyone, and the potential viewer of these videos should understand that Van Pelt takes a paradigm-memorizing approach to learning Hebrew, with not much inductive learning or interaction with the biblical text. (I think of my high school Spanish teacher, who would not answer classroom questions asked in English, but would simply say, “¡EnEspañol, por favor!”)
Van Pelt and Pratico’s materials use verbal diagnostics. Paradigm charts show in red what the unique prefixes and suffixes and vowels are for each verbal stem, so that it is not just rote memorization of multiple verbs. The diagnostics are a time-saving feature in this sense. As here:
For those interested in verbal theory, Van Pelt uses perfect (“completed action”) and imperfect (“incomplete action”) nomenclature to describe verbs.
The lectures are well-produced and alternate between views of charts like the one above, real-time writing (like a dry-erase board), and Van Pelt speaking. The clarity of the lectures is a strong point, as they reinforce the material in the textbook well.
If a student is already assigned the Pratico and Van Pelt text, he or she should seriously consider using the lectures as an additional study aid, if one is needed. If a student or professor has a choice as to which text to use for learning Hebrew, though, it is worth considering (either in addition or instead) other “living language”/inductive approaches. Randall Buth’s Living Biblical Hebrew or John H. Dobson’s Learn Biblical Hebreware two possible texts.
Chapter 1 of the lectures is here, if you want to get a flavor of the lectures (it’s just over an hour):
Thanks to Zondervan for the review copy. You can find the Basics of Biblical Hebrew Video Lectures here at Amazon. The Zondervan product page is here.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2
The heading of Psalm 51 gives its setting: “When the prophet Nathan came to [David] after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” The Hebrew text is more explicit in its description of David’s adulterous act in the Psalm heading. David had had sex with another man’s wife—and then had him killed in battle.
The French philosopher Jacques Derrida could have found himself at home in this Psalm. Derrida might point out that for David to follow up his sins with a plea for God to “wash away all [his] iniquity” is to ask the impossible. (For Derrida, as John Caputo puts it, the impossible is “something that exceeds the horizon of foreseeability and expectation.”)
In this sense David asks for the impossible. The affair with Bathsheba was sordid enough, but he also called Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from battle to sleep with her in the hopes that no one would know David made her pregnant. When this plan failed, David oversaw military orders that sent Uriah to an unjust death. How audacious is David to ask for forgiveness from these sins that so “displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27)? Doesn’t David make an impossible request?
Caputo, in a somewhat Christianizing read of Derrida, writes, “[H]ope is truly hope when it has been pushed up against the impossible and everything looks hopeless.” All must have looked hopeless to David, who wrote, “My sin is always before me” (51:3). Yet he held out hope in God, praying, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (51:12).
With God the impossible is possible. We can be forgiven for even the unspeakable sins of our past. Some Psalms later David writes, “Praise the Lord, my soul… who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” (103:3).
Don’t we often feel “pushed up against the impossible”? Don’t we sometimes look at our sins, only to see that “everything looks hopeless”? And yet, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (103:12).
God exceeds the foreseeable. He transcends our expectations. He does not visit upon us the punishment that our sins deserve. David’s impossible request for forgiveness is possible, because God is the God of the impossible.
The above is a reflection I wrote for the Gordon College Lenten Devotional, “The Hope Before Us.” You can access a pdf of the whole devotional here.
$369.95 for the Göttingen Septuagint in Logos Bible Software. It’s on sale for International Septuagint Day, all day Friday (midnight to midnight). If you click here, it adds to your cart, and you can purchase from there–whether you already have the academic discount or not. Marked down from $700.
I reviewed the Göttingen Septuagint in Logos here. Its product page is here.
