Septuagint Studies Soirée #2

It’s the September Septuagint Studies Soirée! Come on in–you won’t have to stay long. It was a quiet month in the Septuagint blogosphere, at least as far as I could find. Everyone is back to school, it seems. But there are still some noteworthy posts.

Suzanne at BLT (Bible*Literature*Translation) wrote about “several curious matters in the vocabulary of Amos 6:1 in Hebrew, in Greek and in English.” It was an early September post, but that verse was included in the OT lectionary reading for today, incidentally.

James Dowden also posted about the vocabulary and translation of a single verse (or part of a verse): Lamentations 3:35a. This one compares Hebrew, Greek, English, and Welsh.

“Where is the center of gravity for LXX studies?” asked T. Michael Law. It’s a spot that may still be “for the taking,” in his analysis. TML also announced a new series on the history of interpretation of the Apocrypha, by Oxford University Press. He and David Lincicum are editing it together.

John Meade posted two parts of a response to Law’s When God Spoke Greek. In part the first he inquires as to just what kind of a book it is. Part the second focuses on the vexing question of canonization and seeks to “interact with a crucial part of chapter three [of Law’s book]: Was there a Bible before the Bible?” Meade promises future posts on the book.

A Septuagint symposium called “Looking Ahead for Dialogue. A Multiplicity of Approaches in Septuagint Studies” will be taking place in Belgium in October. (This via Jim Aitken on the FB, who will be presenting.)

Did I miss anything? Feel free to leave more September 2013 LXX links of interest in the comments. And in case you didn’t see it, the first Septuagint Studies Soirée is here.

Colossians and Philemon (Zondervan ECNT), reviewed

I got an ad in the mail the other day for a new commentary series that claimed to avoid all the weaknesses of previous commentary series while building on their strengths. (!)

With how many good “old” commentaries there are, I think commentary users should critically examine new series, and certainly not take claims like the above too seriously. (Every commentary set has weaknesses.)

That said–Zondervan’s new Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament series is a real winner. It adds important elements to the mix that are not present in previously published commentaries. As a preacher with a scholarly interest in Scripture, I find this series to cover many bases well. It would be good for a student, professor, preacher, or even someone who didn’t know Greek and wanted to go more deeply into a given book.

I’ve (favorably) reviewed James and Luke in the same ZECNT series. Like the rest of the series, Colossians and Philemon includes the following for each passage of Scripture:

The full Greek text of Colossians and Philemon, verse by verse
The author’s English translation
- First, passage by passage in the graphical layout
- Second, verse by verse next to the Greek
The broader “Literary Context” of each passage (within the larger book)
An outline of the passage in its surrounding context
The Main Idea (this is a great focus point for preachers)
Structure
A more detailed “Exegetical Outline”
“Explanation of the Text,” which includes the Greek and English mentioned above, as well as the commentary proper
“Theology in Application” concludes each passage

The fact that the commentary has within it all the Greek and English of the two books under examination means you can take the single book (and no other) with you for thorough study of Colossians and Philemon.

Author David W. Pao makes frequent use of Greek throughout the commentary, but a non-Greek reader would also make profitable use of his comments.

Colossians has a 16-page introduction and 8-page bibliography; Philemon’s introduction is 13 pages, its bibliography 4. A “theology” section of 13 and 9 pages, respectively, concludes each book.

Regarding authorship of Colossians, Pao writes, “Among the various possibilities, to consider Paul as the author of Colossians is still the best hypothesis on which our reading can be constructed.” Like Murray J. Harris, Pao deduces this due to the various parallels (e.g., the opening greeting sections) between Colossians and Philemon, which is almost universally accepted as Pauline. He dates both letters to 60-62 AD, being written by Paul during his Roman imprisonment.

Pao is a good writer, too. This is from the introduction to Colossians, on its significance:

This letter that addresses a congregation challenged by a form of syncretism has significant contemporary application in a society in which the “virtues” of pluralism and tolerance are exalted as most important. Instead of simply pointing out the errors of the various practices and beliefs promoted by the false teachers, Paul begins and ends with an intense focus on Christ as the foundation of the believers’ existence. As a result, one finds powerful theoretical and practical outworkings of a robust Christology. In this letter, the readers encounter a detailed portrayal of the unique identity and final authority of Christ, and this portrayal enriches the high Christology found elsewhere in Paul’s letters.

This slightly longer excerpt on Col. 3:3 shows how adeptly Pao blends lexical study with historical background in a way that incorporates today’s Christian settings… all from an appreciated doxological posture:

That this life “is hidden with Christ” is significant in a number of ways. First, the verb “to hide” (κρύπτω) can signify close association (cf. Luke 13:21), and this meaning is certainly present in light of Paul’s identification of Christ as “your life” (ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν). To be “hidden with Christ” reaffirms the believers’ participation in Christ’s death and resurrection as they anticipate the final consummation of God’s salvific act at the end of time.

Second, to be “hidden with Christ” necessarily implies the security that one finds in Christ. The following verse explains the purpose of this hiddenness as it guarantees the final participation of believers in the revelation of God’s glory. This security from the evil powers is also implied in the reference to their dying with Christ, an act that points to the freedom of the threats posed by the opposing spiritual powers (2:20).

Third, in light of 2:3, where Paul asserts that in Christ “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden,” Paul is here affirming that the lives of believers are also contained in Christ. This may serve a polemical purpose as Paul argues against those who continuously seek to get access to the heavenly mysteries. Paul’s response is that believers are already hidden with all the treasures in Christ. The sufficiency of Christ cannot be challenged, and to seek for these treasures elsewhere is to betray the true gospel.

Out of all of the above features, the graphical layout is my favorite in this series and in this volume. It’s what makes the ZECNT something I’ll always reach for when preaching on a given passage–and early on in the process, too. Here’s what it looks like:

The main clauses are in bold, and subordinate clauses are indented under them. It’s easy to see, at a glance, how all the parts of a sentence and paragraph relate. The words in gray at left describe the function of each line (exhortation, expansion, etc.).

Pao is a refreshingly enjoyable writer who knows this terrain very well. Preaching or teaching from Colossians/Philemon (or even studying in depth on one’s own or with others) would be greatly enhanced by use of his commentary.

I am grateful to Zondervan for the gratis review copy of this commentary, which was offered to me in exchange for an unbiased review. You can find the book on Amazon here. The Zondervan product page is here. See a pdf sample of the book here.

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 43 and 44 (Isaiah 52:1-Isaiah 55:6)

This past week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year cover Isaiah 52:1-Isaiah 55:6.

Below is 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).

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

Continue reading “Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 43 and 44 (Isaiah 52:1-Isaiah 55:6)” →

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 41 and 42 (Isaiah 49:12-Isaiah 51)

This week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year will cover Isaiah 49:12-Isaiah 51. Here are the readings for each day: Continue reading “Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 41 and 42 (Isaiah 49:12-Isaiah 51)” →

Septuagint Studies Soirée #1

As soon as I announced the first-ever Septuagint Studies Soirée (and here it is!), J.K. Gayle responded with “Breast God: women in the male literary imagination of Genesis 49.” Find his post here. In it he writes about how the Greek translators of Genesis 49 rendered God’s Hebrew title Shaddai… or, rather, didn’t:

Then I recall what the Septuagint translators did with Shaddai in Genesis 49. They were men, weren’t they? Yes, breasts are mentioned, and womb. These motherly wifely womanly female images are in the Hebraic Hellene. And absence, margin, lack is there.

James Dowden offered further lexical analysis (I loved the detail) with a response here. These two gents are fine thinkers. And they are, indeed, gents. Gayle makes a point to recognize this in his WOMBman’s Bible blog, with a post in which he asks whether the Septuagint itself might not be some sort of soirée. I always need to spend some time with Gayle to really plumb the depths of his insights, but it’s time well spent. A sampling:

In many fascinating ways, this act of translating into Hellene opens up the text. It opens the text up into the debates over how Greek males (such as Alexander’s teacher Aristotle) may control the Greek language for elite educated men of the Academy. The language control was to exclude not only women but also sophists, rhetoricians, ancient epic poets, more contemporary poets, colonists such as those in Soli who committed “solecisms” in writing, and BarBarians who spoke in foreign barbarisms.

Books

T. Michael Law’s When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible went on tour. A multi-stop tour. Find all the posts gathered here at Near Emmaus. Oxford University Press, First Things, and Near Emmaus interviewed him.

Larry Hurtado mentioned that a book he co-edited with Paul L. Owen is now in (affordable) paperback. It’s called “Who Is This Son of Man?” The Latest Scholarship on a Puzzling Expression of the Historical Jesus, found here.

News

The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies held its International Congress in Munich in early August. Here are all the paper abstracts (pdf); here is the program (pdf).

Not-Blogs

These are not blogs proper, and not terribly active of late, but still worth checking out are this B-Greek forum (link malfunctioning at time of posting) and this Yahoo! group for LXX. The IOSCS (mentioned above) has a great page with some news and announcements here.

Feel free to leave more August 2013 LXX links of interest in the comments.

The NA28 Greek NT in Olive Tree’s Bible Study App: Initial Impressions, on a Mac

Which Bible software program should I buy? My answer to that question continues to be the most-visited post at Words on the Word. In it I offer a comparative review of BibleWorks (9), Logos (4 and 5), and Accordance (10).

A fourth popular Bible study software is by Olive Tree. Their “Bible Study App” works in the following platforms:

iPad
iPhone
Mac on Lion
Windows 8
Windows Desktop
Android

I’ve installed the app on a Mac and an iPad, and have received the NA28 Greek New Testament to review. In a short series of posts, I’ll report on the Bible Study App, and how it allows users to interact with the NA28 text and critical apparatus. Here I review the Mac version, using a MacBook laptop.

My opening screen, when I open the NA28 from my Library, looks like this (click to enlarge):

The interface of the left sidebar resembles that of the Mac Finder windows. In addition the sidebar affords immediate (in-app) access to the Olive Tree store. Once you click on “Book Store,” you see a screen that slightly resembles the iTunes store:

You can hide the sidebar and hide or customize the toolbar on top.

By clicking on the “Tools & Notes” icon on the top right (from the first screen shot above), I can open a second window (Olive Tree calls this “the split window”):

I have several options at the top of the split window: Resource Guide, Notes, etc.

With the NA28 open, I quickly found four ways to navigate to a given verse–each of the three shown below, as well as a right-click option to select a verse.

For the NA28 with apparatus, I open the text in the left window and the apparatus in the right. Clicking on a word or hovering over it will show its morphological information (i.e., parsing and gloss) either through a pop-up menu (when clicking) or through the “Quick Details” at bottom left in the shot below (when hovering):

Getting right to work within the program (with just the occasional reference to help files and a quick start guide) was easy enough. I didn’t find getting the two windows side-by-side to be as quickly intuitive as I would have liked, but I don’t know yet whether that’s a weakness in the program or just my newness to it. The interface is clean and visually appealing. I’ve already been impressed with all that’s available in the Olive Tree store.

More to come. In the meantime, Olive Tree has a blog post of their own on using the NA28 here.

Thanks to Olive Tree for the NA28 with Critical Apparatus, Mounce Parsings, and Concise Dictionary for the purposes of this blog review. You can find that product here.

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 39 and 40 (Isa 47:1-49:11)

This past week I was reminded why I’ve so much appreciated going through Isaiah slowly, just five or so verses a day. I wrote about a new observation I had (i.e., new to me) here.

This week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year will cover Isaiah 47:1-49:11. Here are the readings for each day:

08/26/13 Isa 47:1–5
08/27/13 Isa 47:6–10
08/28/13 Isa 47:11–15
08/29/13 Isa 48:1–5
08/30/13 Isa 48:6–11

09/02/13 Isa 48:12–16
09/03/13 Isa 48:17–22
09/04/13 Isa 49:1–3
09/05/13 Isa 49:4–7
09/06/13 Isa 49:8–11

Below is the text from R.R. Ottley’s Book of Isaiah According to the Septuagint, first in Greek, then with his English translation. 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).

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

47 1 Κατάβηθι, κάθισον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, παρθένος θυγάτηρ Βαβυλῶνος· εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ σκότος, θυγάτηρ Χαλδσίων, ὅτι οὐκέτι προστεθήσῃ κληθῆναι ἁπαλὴ καὶ τρυφερά. 2 λάβε μύλον, ἄλεσον ἄλευρον, ἀποκάλυψαι τὸ κατακάλυμμά σου, ἀνακάλυψαι τὰς πολιάς, ἀνάσυραι τὰς κνήμας, διάβηθι ποταμούς. 3 ἀνακαλυφθήσεται ἡ αἰσχύνη σου, φανήσονται οἱ ὀνειδισμοί σου· τὸ δίκαιον ἐκ σοῦ λήμψομαι, οὐκέτι μὴ παραδῶ ἀνθρώποις· 4 εἶπεν ὁ ῥυσάμενός σε Κύριος σαβαώθ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ ἅγιος Ἰσραήλ. 5 κάθισον κατανενυγμένη, εἴσελθε εἰς τὸ σκότος, θυγάτηρ Χαλδαίων, οὐκέτι μὴ κληθήσῃ ἰσχὺς βασιλείας.6 παρωξύνθην ἐπὶ τῷ λαῷ μου, ἐμίανας τὴν κληρονομίαν μου· ἐγὼ ἔδωκα εἰς τὴν χεῖρά σου, σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἔδωκας αὐτοῖς ἔλεος, τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου ἐβάρυνας τὸν ζυγὸν σφόδρα, 7 καὶ εἶπας Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔσομαι ἄρχουσα. οὐκ ἐνόησας ταῦτα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, σου, οὐδὲ ἐμνήσθης τὰ ἔσχατα. 8 Νῦν δὲ ἄκουσον ταῦτα, ἡ τρυφερά, ἡ καθημένη, ἡ πεποιθυῖα, ἡ λέγουσα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, αὐτῆς Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑτέρα, οὐ καθιῶ χήρα οὐδὲ γνώσομαι ὀρφανείαν. 9 νῦν δὲ ἥξει ἐξέφνης τὰ δύο ταῦτα ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ, χηρία καὶ ἀτεκνία, ἥξει ἐξέφνης ἐπὶ σὲ ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου, ἐν τῇ ἰσχύι τῶν ἐπαοιδῶν σου σφόδρα, 10 τῇ ἐλπίδι τῆς πονηρίας σου· σὺ γὰρ εἶπας Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑτέρα· γνῶθι ὅτι ἡ σύνεσις τούτων καὶ ἡ πορνεία σου ἔσται σοι αἰσχύνη· καὶ εἶπας τῇ καρδίᾳ σου Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑτέρα. 11 καὶ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ ἀπώλεια καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς, βόθυνος, καὶ ἐμπεσῇ εἰς αὐτόν· καὶ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ ταλαιπωρία, καὶ οὐ μὴ δυνήσῃ καθαρὰ γενέσθαι· καὶ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ ἐξέφνης ἀπώλεια καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς. 12 στῆθι νῦν ἐν ταῖς ἐπαοιδαῖς σου καὶ ἐν τῇ πολλῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου, ἃ ἐμάνθανες ἐκ νεότητός σου, εἰ δυνήσει ὠφεληθῆναι. 13 κεκοπίακας ἐν ταῖς βουλαῖς σου· στήτωσαν καὶ σωσάτωσάν σε οἱ ἀστρολόγοι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οἱ ὁρῶντες τοὺς ἀστέρας ἀναγγειλάτωσάν σοι τί μέλλει ἐπὶ σὲ ἔρχεσθαι. 14 ἰδοὺ πάντες ὡς φρύγανα ἐπὶ πυρὶ κατακαήσονται, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξέλωνται τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἐκ φλογός· ὅτι ἔχεις ἄνθρακας πυρός, κάθισαι ἐπʼ αὐτούς. 15 οὗτοι ἔσονταί σοι βοήθειᾶ ἐκοπίασας ἐν τῇ μεταβολῇ σου ἐκ νεότητος, ἄνθρωπος καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐπλανήθη· σοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔσται σωτηρία.

48 1 Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, οἶκος Ἰακώβ, οἱ κεκλημένοι τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰσραὴλ καὶ οἱ ἐξ Ἰούδα ἐξελθόντες, οἱ ὀμνύοντες τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου θεοῦ Ἰσραήλ, μιμνησκόμενοι οὐ μετὰ ἀληθείας οὐδὲ μετὰ δικαιοσύνης, 2 καὶ ἀντεχόμενοι τῷ ὀνόματι τῆς πόλεως τῆς ἁγίας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀντιστηριζόμενοι, Κύριος σαβαὼθ ὄνομα αὐτῷ. 3 τὰ πρότερα ἔτι ἀνήγγειλα, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στόματός μου ἐξῆλθεν καὶ ἀκουστὰ ἐγένετο· ἐξάπινα ἐποίησα, καὶ ἐπῆλθεν. 4 γινώσκω ἐγὼ ὅτι σκληρὸς εἶ, καὶ νεῦρον σιδηροῦν ὁ τράχηλός σου, καὶ τὸ μέτωπόν σου χαλκοῦν. 5 καὶ ἀνήγγειλά σοι τὰ πάλαι πρὶν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ σέ· ἀκουστόν σοι ἐποίησα, μὴ εἴπῃς ὅτι Τὰ εἴδωλά μοι ἐποίησαν, καὶ <μὴ εἴπῃς> Τὰ γλυπτὰ καὶ τὰ χωνευτὰ ἐνετείλατό μοι. 6 ἠκούσατε πάντα, καὶ ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἔγνωτε· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκουστά σοι ἐποίησα τὰ καινὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἃ μέλλει γίνεσθαι· καὶ οὐκ εἶπας 7 Νῦν γίνεται καὶ οὐ πάλαι, καὶ οὐ προτέραις ἤκουσας αὐτά· μὴ εἴπῃς ὅτι Ναί, γινώσκω αὐτά. 8 οὔτε ἔγνως οὔτε ἠπίστω, οὔτε ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἤνοιξα τὰ ὦτά σου· ἔγνων γὰρ ὅτι ἀθετῶν ἀθετήσεις, καὶ ἄνομος ἔτι ἐκ κοιλίας κληθήσῃ. 9 ἕνεκν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀνόματος δείξω σοι τὸν θυμόν μου, καὶ τὰ ἔνδοξά μου ἐπάξω ἐπὶ σοί, ἵνα μὴ ἐξολεθρεύσω σε. 10 ἰδοὺ πέπρακά σε οὐχ ἕνεκεν ἀργυρίου· ἐξειλάμην δέ σε ἐκ καμίνου πτωχείας· 11 ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ ποιήσω σοι, ὅτι τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα βεβηλοῦται, καὶ τὴν δόξαν μου ἑτέρῳ οὐ δώσω. 12 Ἄκουέ μου, Ἰακώβ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ ὃν ἐγὼ καλῶ· ἐγώ εἰμι πρῶτος, καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, 13 καὶ ἡ χείρ μου ἐθεμελίωσεν τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἡ δεξιά μου ἐστερέωσεν τὸν οὐρανόν· καλέσω αὐτούς, καὶ στήσονται ἅμα, 14 καὶ συναχθήσονται πάντες καὶ ἀκούσονται. τίς αὐτοῖς ἀνήγγειλεν ταῦτα; ἀγαπῶν σε ἐποίησα ταῦτα ἐπὶ Βαβυλῶνα, τὸ θέλημά σου, τοῦ ἆραι σπέρμα Χαλδαίων· 15 ἐγὼ ἐλάλησα, ἐγὼ ἐκάλεσα, ἤγαγον αὐτὸν καὶ εὐόδωσα τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ. 16 προσαγάγετε πρὸς μὲ καὶ ἀκούσατε ταῦτα, οὐκ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἐν κρυφῇ ἐλάλησα, οὐδὲ ἐν τόπῳ γῆς σκοτινῷ· ἡνίκα ἐγένετο, ἐκεῖ ἤμην, καὶ νῦν Κύριος ἀπέσταλκέν με, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ. 17 οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ ῥυσάμενός σε ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραήλ, <Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός σου,> δέδειχά σοι τοῦ εὑρεῖν σε τὴν ὁδὸν ἐν ᾗ πορεύσῃ ἐν αὐτῇ. 18 καὶ εἰ ἤκουσας τῶν ἐντολῶν μου, ἐγένετο ἂν ὡσεὶ ποταμὸς ἡ εἰρήνη σου, καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου ὡς κῦμα θαλάσσης. 19 καὶ ἐγένετο ἂν ὡσεὶ ἄμμος τὸ σπέρμα σου, καὶ τὰ ἔκγονα τῆς κοιλίας σου ὡς ὁ χοῦς τῆς γῆς· οὐδὲ νῦν οὐ μὴ ἐξολεθρευθῇς, οὐδὲ ἀπολεῖται τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐνώπιόν μου. 20 Ἔξελθε ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος φεύγων ἀπὸ τῶν Χαλδαίων· φωνὴν εὐφροσύνης ἀναγγείλατε, καὶ ἀκουστὸν γενέσθω τοῦτο, ἀπαγγείλατε ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς, λέγετε Ἐρρύσατο Κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ Ἰακώβ. 21 καὶ ἐὰν διψήσωσιν, διʼ ἐρήμου ἄξει αὐτούς, ὕδωρ ἐκ πέτρας ἐξάξει αὐτοῖς, σχισθήσεται πέτρα καὶ ῥυήσεται ὕδωρ, καὶ πίεται ὁ λαός μου. 22 οὐκ ἔστιν χαίρειν τοῖς ἀσεβέσιν, λέγει Κύριος.

49 1 Ἀκούσατέ μου, νῆσοι, καὶ προσέχετε, ἔθνη· διὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ στήσεται, λέγει Κύριος. ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομά μου, 2 καὶ ἔθηκεν τὸ στόμα μου ὡσεὶ μάχαιραν ὀξεῖαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν σκέπην τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ ἔκρυψέν με· ἔθηκέν με ὡς βέλος ἐκλεκτόν, καὶ ἐν τῇ φαρέτρᾳ αὐτοῦ ἐσκέπασέν με, 3 καὶ εἶπεν μοι Δοῦλός μου εἶ σύ, Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ἐν σοὶ δοξασθήσομαι. 4 καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπα Κενῶς ἐκοπίασα, καὶ εἰς μάταιον καὶ εἰς οὐθὲν ἔδωκα τὴν ἰσχύν μου· διὰ τοῦτο ἡ κρίσις μου παρὰ Κυρίου, καὶ ὁ πόνος μου ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ μου. 5 καὶ νῦν οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ πλάσας με ἐκ κοιλίας δοῦλον ἑαυτῷ τοῦ συναγαγεῖν τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ πρὸς αὐτόν Συναχθήσομαι καὶ δοξασθήσομαι ἐναντίον Κυρίου, καὶ ὁ θεός μου ἔσται μου ἰσχύς.6 καὶ εἶπέν μοι Μέγα σοί ἐστιν τοῦ κληθῆναί σε παῖδά μου, τοῦ στῆσαι τὰς φυλὰς Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὴν διασπορὰν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπιστρέψαι· ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς. 7 οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ ῥυσάμενός σε ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραήλ Ἁγιάσατε τὸν φαυλίζοντα τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, τὸν βδελυσσόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν δούλων τῶν ἀρχόντων· βασιλεῖς ὄψονται αὐτόν, καὶ ἀναστήσονται ἄρχοντες καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν αὐτῷ ἕνεκεν Κυρίου· ὅτι πιστός ἔστιν ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ἐξελεξάμην σε. 8 οὕτως λέγει Κύριος Καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσά σου, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησά σοι, καὶ ἔδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην ἐθνῶν, τοῦ καταστῆσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ κληρονομῆσαι κληρονομίαν ἐρήμου, 9 λέγοντα τοῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς Ἐξέλθατε, καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῷ σκότει ἀνακαλυφθῆναι. καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν βοσκηθήσονται, καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς τρίβοις ἡ νομὴ αὐτῶν. 10 οὐ πεινάσουσιν, οὐδὲ διψήσουσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ πατάξει αὐτοὺς καύσων οὐδὲ ὁ ἥλιος, ἀλλὰ ὁ ἐλεῶν αὐτοὺς παρακαλέσει, καὶ διὰ πηγῶν ὑδάτων ἄξει αὐτούς· 11 καὶ θήσω πᾶν ὄρος εἰς ὁδὸν καὶ πᾶσαν τρίβον εἰς βόσκημα αὐτοῖς.

47 1 Come down, sit upon the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon; enter into the darkness, daughter of the Chaldaeans, for no longer shalt thou be any more called tender and delicate.

2 Take a millstone, grind meal, take off thy covering, uncover thy grey hairs, make bare the legs, pass through rivers.

3 Thy shame shall be uncovered, thy reproaches shall appear; I will do justice upon thee, no longer will I deliver thee over unto men,

4 Saith thy deliverer, the Lord of Hosts, his name is the Holy One of Israel.

5 Sit down in amazement, enter into the darkness, daughter of the Chaldaeans: no longer shalt thou be called the strength of a kingdom.

6 I was provoked at my people, thou defiledst mine inheritance: I gave (them) into thine hand, and thou showedst them no mercy; thou didst make the yoke of the elder very heavy.

7 And thou saidst, I shall be a princess for ever; thou perceivedst not this in thine heart, neither didst remember the last things.

8 But now hear this, delicate one, that sittest, that art confident, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and there is none other; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I come to know bereavement.

9 But now shall there come suddenly these two things in one day, widowhood and childlessness shall come suddenly upon thee in thy witchcraft; in the strength of thine enchantments exceeding greatly,

10 In the hope of thy wickedness; for thou saidst, I am, and there is no other: learn thou, that the understanding of these things and thy harlotry shall be thy shame: and thou saidst in thine heart, I am, and there is no other.

11 And there shall come upon thee destruction, and thou shalt not perceive it; a pit, and thou shalt fall into it: and there shall come misery upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to be clear of it: and there shall come destruction suddenly upon thee, and thou shalt not perceive it.

12 Stand now in thine enchantments, and thine abundant witchcraft, which thou didst learn from thy youth, to see if thou canst be helped:

13 Thou hast grown weary in thy counsels: let the astrologers of the heaven stand and save thee; let them who look on the stars declare to thee what is purposed to come upon thee.

14 Behold, all shall be burnt up as brushwood upon a fire, and they shall not deliver their soul from the flame; since thou hast coals of fire, sit thereon.

15 These shall be thy help: thou didst weary thyself in thy traffic from thy youth: each went astray by himself; but for thee shall be no salvation.

48 1 Hear ye this, house of Jacob, ye that are called by the name of Israel, and that have come forth from Judah, ye that swear by the name of the Lord God of Israel, calling him to mind not with truth, nor with righteousness,

2 And holding by the name of the holy city, and staying yourselves upon the God of Israel: the Lord of Hosts is his name.

3 Still have I declared the former things, and out of my mouth went they forth, and came to be heard: I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

4 I perceive that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass.

5 And I declared to thee the things of old, before they came upon thee; I made it to be heard of thee, lest thou shouldest say, Mine idols have done it, and say, The graven and the molten images have commanded me.

6 Ye have heard all, and ye perceived not; but I have also made to be heard of thee the new things from henceforth which shall come to pass; and thou saidst not,

7 Now come they to pass, and not long since, and not in former days didst thou hear of them; lest thou shouldest say, Yea, I perceive them.

8 Thou didst neither perceive nor know, nor did I open thine ears from the beginning; for I perceived that thou wouldest utterly set them at nought, and thou shalt be called a transgressor even from the womb.

9 For my name’s sake will I show thee my wrath, and my glorious deeds will I bring upon thee, that I may not utterly destroy thee.

10 Behold, I have sold thee, not for silver; and I delivered thee out of the furnace of beggary.

11 For mine own sake will I do it unto thee; for my name is polluted, and my glory will I not give to another.

12 Hear me, Jacob, and Israel, whom I call; I am first, and I am for everlasting:

13 And mine hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand established the heaven; I will call them, and they shall stand together.

14 And all shall be gathered together, and shall hearken. Who declared these things unto them? Because I loved thee, I did this upon Babylon, thy will, to destroy the seed of the Chaldaeans.

15 I spake, I called him, led him, and made his way prosperous.

16 Draw near unto me, and hear ye this; from the beginning have I not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth; when it came to pass, there was I, and now the Lord hath sent me, and his spirit.

17 Thus saith the Lord, thy deliverer, the Holy One of Israel: <I am thy God,> I have shown to thee, that thou mayest find the way wherein thou shalt walk.

18 And if thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, thy peace should have been made as a river, and thy righteousness as a wave of the sea;

19 And thy seed should have become as sand, and the offspring of thy womb as the dust of the earth; nor shalt thou now be utterly destroyed, nor shall thy name perish before me.

20 Come thou forth from Babylon, fleeing from the Chaldaeans; proclaim ye the voice of joy, and let this be heard, report it to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath delivered his people Jacob.

21 And if they be thirsty, he will bring them through the wilderness, he will bring water for them out of a rock; a rock shall be cleft, and water shall flow, and my people shall drink.

22 There is no rejoicing, saith the Lord, for the wicked.

49 1 Hearken to me, ye isles, and attend to me, ye nations; after long time shall it stand, saith the Lord. From my mother’s womb he called my name,

2 And set my mouth as a sharp sword, and under the shelter of his hand he hid me; he made me as a chosen arrow, and in his quiver he sheltered me,

3 And said unto me, Thou art my bondman, Israel, and in thee will I be glorified.

4 And I said, Vainly have I laboured, in vain and for nought have I given my strength; therefore my judgment is from the Lord, and my toil before my God.

5 And now thus saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb his bondslave, to gather together Jacob and Israel unto him, I will be gathered, and will be glorified before the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.

6 And he said to me, It is a great thing for thee, that thou mayest be called my servant, that thou mayest set up the tribes of Jacob, and turn again the dispersion of Israel; behold, I have set thee for a light of nations, that thou mayest be for salvation unto the end of the earth.

7 Thus saith the Lord thy deliverer, the God of Israel, Sanctify him that lightly esteemeth his soul, him that is held abominable by the nations, the slaves of the rulers; kings shall see him, and rulers shall rise up and worship him for the Lord’s sake: for faithful is the Holy One of Israel, and I chose thee.

8 Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time I heard thee, and in a day of salvation I helped thee, and gave thee for a covenant of nations, to establish the earth, and to cause to inherit an heritage of a desert,

9 Saying to them that are in bonds, Go forth, and (bidding) them that are in darkness be revealed. And in all the ways they shall feed, and in all paths is their pasture.

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall burning heat nor sun smite them; but he that hath mercy on them shall comfort them, and lead them through springs of waters:

11 And I will turn every mountain into a way, and every path into a pasture for them.

Basics of Biblical Greek vocabulary iPad app, reviewed

Vocabulary cards have done wonders for my efforts to learn Greek and Hebrew. (And, really, anything else I put on a two-sided card.) Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be reviewing a number of Greek and Hebrew vocabulary apps for iOS, with the iPad specifically in view. Today I review Zondervan’s Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Cards app.

The above picture is the opening screen, following the branding and design of the popular textbook by William D. Mounce. Yet it is additionally keyed to five other popular beginning Greek grammars. This makes the app flexible to a number of students, so that they can be learning their exact vocabulary lists as presented by any of these textbooks. You can select the a book in the settings section:

Words first appear on the screen like this:

Then by tapping or swiping up or down, the English meaning is revealed:

Swiping left or right from a Greek word goes just through the Greek words and doesn’t show English. (Tapping the double arrow keys at the bottom of the screen does the same.)

From what I can tell, the gloss (English “meaning”/equivalent) stays the same regardless of which grammar you select. This may be a rights or permission issue–that Zondervan would just use Mounce’s word glosses, even with the other grammars–but users of other textbooks besides Mounce’s should be aware of this.

Verbs helpfully come with principal parts, displayed once you tap or swipe to show the English:

Note also the audio icon on the bottom right of the screen above (just to the left of the “Quiz” button). For any given card, tapping on that icon plays an audio pronunciation of the word, which is a nice add-on, compared to the print cards. You can also set pronunciations to “on” in the preferences section, so that you automatically hear it every time you show a new word.

There is a glitch when switching to landscape mode. The same card as above looks like this in landscape orientation:

That’s a pretty noticeable bug for such a simple and common function/gesture on an iPad, so I hope Zondervan fixes it soon. Along similar lines, another un-iPadlike bit of behavior is that if you close a case/cover to put your screen to sleep while the app is open, when you wake up the iPad, it shows the opening screen every time. It does remember your place, but to see the opening screen in such an instance seems odd. I don’t know of any other apps that do that.

Here is the “Sort” screen that shows all the ways you can customize the set of cards you want to go through. This is the app’s greatest strength.

As you can see, you can sort not only by grammar, but also by chapter. For someone going sequentially through a textbook, this is a good feature. (It has the same effect as just “pulling” given chapters from one’s vocab card deck, though note that you can only select consecutive chapters here.) You can also quiz yourself by a single part of speech: “any,” noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, or particle.

There are frequency settings, too, so that one can easily isolate words that appear just 50 to 100 times in the New Testament, for example.

I experienced it as a fairly significant loss (compared to the print cards) that these cards do not have frequency information on them. On the print cards you can see how many times a word appears in the Greek New Testament. Here there is no way to do so. You can set the frequency of what words you’ll study, but if you selected words with 50-500 occurrences, there would be no way to differentiate from within that set. The best you can do is to study a set within a range of frequencies by descending frequency (i.e., with most frequent words coming first in the “deck” you create for yourself).

Here’s what a card looks like when you send it into “Quiz Mode”:

This feature works well and is a good way to track progress. You see the Greek first, then tap or swipe to see the English, then tap the red X or green check mark to show if you got it right or wrong. Then the app tracks your answers for a quiz score when you’re done:

Using the icons at the bottom left of the above shot, you can either reset or shuffle a given deck:

At $20, the Basics of Biblical Greek app is more expensive than most iPad apps a person would buy. There are other vocabulary app options on the market that do a similar thing (with even more customizability) for a lower price. I’ll explore some of those options in the future. I’m not convinced that the $20 is warranted with the app in its current iteration–I’d like to see a fix of the landscape mode option, as well as the addition of frequency statistics for individual words. The font is easy to read (though not the same font as used in Mounce’s materials), and the audio pronunciation is a nice addition.

8/27/13 UPDATE: I’ve heard from a developer that an update to the app will be released very soon that includes word frequency counts on the individual cards, fixes the landscape orientation bug shown above, and an English to Greek vocabulary card function. (This last one is a great idea, especially.) I know the developers are open to suggestions, so if you have used this app and have any ideas, feel free to leave a comment here. Future updates to the app will include additional features, as well.

The app is here, via the iTunes store. If and as it receives any future updates, I’ll post about them here.

Thanks to Zondervan for the complimentary app, given to me for the purposes of a review, with no expectations or pressures as to the content of this review.

Septuagint Studies Soirée: Last Call

Last call for nominations for any blog posts (or articles, etc.) you think should be nominated for the Septuagint Studies Soirée. I’ll be posting it in just a couple of days, so let me know if you see anything you think should be included.

You can comment here or on the original post, or email me using this form.

Every Knee… and Every Tongue (Isaiah in Philippians 2:10-11)

"St. Paul Writing His Epistles," by Valentin de Boulogne (17th Cent.) — “St. Paul Writing His Epistles,” by Valentin de Boulogne (17th Cent.)

For the first time that I can remember (after nearly 30 years of reading the Bible) I noticed the connection between Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10-11.

Paul clearly sees this Isaiah passage as being “about” Jesus.

Isaiah 45:23

English: …because to me every knee shall bow and every tongue acknowledge (=confess) God…

Greek: ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ καὶ ἐξομολογήσεται πᾶσα γλῶσσα τῷ θεῷ

Philippians 2:10-11

English:
…that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow
(in heaven and on earth and under the earth)
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Greek:
ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ
πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ
ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων
καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσηται ὅτι
κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς
εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός.

While Isaiah speaks of tongues’ acknowledging God (i.e., confessing belief and trust in God), Paul says more specifically that every tongue will confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Paul carries over “God” (θεός) from Isaiah, but explicitly names Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord (κύριος) over all.

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Isaiah 45:23

Philippians 2:10-11

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