To the [a]saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Colossians 1:2 NASB Saints – You know, some people just have a deeper spiritual connection than most of us. God seems to be more present to them. That’s why we call them saints, right? In fact, if they…
How long, O LORD, will You forget me always? How long hide Your face from me? How long shall I cast about for counsel, sorrow in my heart all day? How long will my enemy loom over me? Psalm 13:2-3 [Hebrew] Robert Alter How long? – We covered the Hebrew intensity of this phrase nearly…
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 NASB This world – Paul strictly instructs followers of the Messiah to resist conformity to the patterns of this world,…
For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15:3 NASB According to the Scriptures – Paul has a problem, or at least we think he does if we read this verse from a Christian perspective. Why? Because, as Adam Clarke…
I and the Father are [a]one.” John 10:30 NASB One – The Trinity. A doctrine that divided Christianity—not only from Judaism but from itself. In the early centuries of Christian development, the split over the proclaimed divinity of Christ broke the Christian world in two. Arius and Athanasius. It wasn’t a happy separation. Accomplished by murder,…
For He sates the thirsting throat and the hungry throat He fills with good. Psalm 107:9 Robert Alter Throat – Robert Alter stresses the need to translate Hebrew terms consistently. His point is simple. Hebrew has a rather sparse vocabulary. Often a single Hebrew word has many different potential English translations. Since English style tends…
That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of My servant Abraham. Genesis 26:24 JPS Your father – It only happens three times. Genesis 28:13, Genesis 32:9…
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 NASB For freedom – Paul is not a Stoic. That won’t mean much to you unless you know something about the Greek concept of freedom. To put it as simply as…
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Matthew 3:1 NASB Saying – Yesterday we discovered that the Hebrew expression le ʾmōr is not really a word to be translated. It is the Hebraic substitution for quotation marks. Now, when we look at the Greek text of Matthew, we find the…
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Genesis 9:8 NASB Saying – Note the same verse translated by Aryeh Kaplan: “God said to Noah and his sons with him.” [The Living Torah] And by Robert Alter: “And God said to Noah and to his sons with him.” [The Hebrew Bible]…
