I got a great question during a lecture I gave last week in Washington, DC: Quotations from the Bible frequently appear in prayers. What should we do when a better understanding of the Bible’s text forces a new translation that no longer matches the prayers? For example, in And God Said I argue against the…
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One of the most non-intuitive aspects of translation is that mimicry can lead the translator astray. For example, it stands to reason that an adverb at the beginning of Hebrew sentence should be translated into English by an adverb at the beginning of a sentence; and, similarly, that an adverb at the end in Hebrew…
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The Ten Commandments — listed in Exodus 20 and again in Deuteronomy 5 — aren’t called commandments in the original Hebrew or in the Greek LXX. In Hebrew, they are d’varim in Exodus 20, either “things” or “words.” (This dual use of d’varim is a bit like “things” in English — I can own ten…
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The importance of word order in Biblical Hebrew recently came up regarding Genesis 1:1, and in particular how we know that that verse answers the question “when?” Here’s some more information and some additional examples. An English Diversion In English, stressing different words changes the implications of a sentence. For example: Example 1. This is…
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Here’s another chance to win a free, signed copy of my latest book, And God Said. From blog.AndGodSaid.com: In honor of the three-month anniversary of And God Said (already in its second printing!), we’re giving away another free copy signed by the author. To enter, visit the “Sweepstakes” tab of And God Said’s Facebook page.…
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