I Really, Really Want This…

The new Hebrew and Greek Bible by Zondervan, that is. I’ve always wished someone would make a combo Hebrew/Greek Bible to bring with me to church, but to my knowledge no one has until now. Carrying both a Hebrew OT and a Greek NT to church is both cumbersome and, well, embarrassing.

I must own it. Who wants to buy it for me?

The Historical Greek Pronunciation: It’s Time to Switch

I am. In fact, I’ve been working on switching from the (wrong) Erasmian pronunciation that I was taught in college and seminary to the HGP for quite a few months now. Erasmian is not an easy habit to break. I’ve experimented with Randall Buth’s reconstruction, as well as the modern Greek pronunciation and that set forth by Chrys Caragounis (which is, for all intents and purposes, the modern pronunciation). I’ve settled on Caragounis’ reconstruction for several reasons, not the least of which is that his is a bit less convoluted (and a bit easier for an English-speaking American to pronounce, oddly enough) than Buth’s. Also, Dr. Caragounis has created a CD entitled “How to Pronounce New Testament Greek in the Historical Greek Pronunciation” that he will send to you at a low cost if you email him and request it. (See here and click the “CD for Pronunciation” link for more info.) I’ve found it to be very helpful, since it is understandably far easier to learn how to pronounce certain sounds after hearing them than it is by reading descriptions and IPA equivalents.

Why does it matter how we pronounce Greek? For one, Erasmian sounds silly. As it turns out, Greeks have never pronounced Greek in the way in which most Westerners pronounce κοινὴ Greek today and, moreover, even Westerners didn’t pronounce Greek in this way until the mid-sixteenth century.

But there are other reasons, too—reasons which are, I think, highly important for proper and informed biblical exegesis and interpretation. Reading a text in the HGP, for example, provides additional perspective on an author’s word choice and rhetorical style (e.g. alliteration, rhyme, and assonance are more easily heard). Further, and perhaps even more importantly, I have become convinced that the HGP is indispensable for textual criticism. Indeed, many of the errors in NT manuscripts can easily be explained by the HGP, making complex explanations regarding theological agendas or scribal corrections in many cases unnecessary if not incredible. For instance, are the frequent exchanges between ἡμῖν and ὑμῖν or ἡμεῖς and ὑμεῖς the result of scribal corrections or clarifications, or worse, a scribal conspiracy to include or exclude persons or peoples in certain biblical exhortations—or might these simply be mistakes of hearing resulting from their identical (or, at least, virtually identical) pronunciation? The latter seems like a far better explanation to me in many, if not most, cases.

So, I’ve switched. And you should too. For some resources to get started, see the “History of the Greek Language and the Historical Greek Pronunciation” section on my resources page.

By the way, I’m back. I’ll try not to go nearly a year without posting again.

NT Greek Reading: Rev 5:1-5

Καὶ εἶδον ἐπὶ τὴν δεξιὰν τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου βιβλίον γεγραμμένον ἔσωθεν καὶ ὄπισθεν κατεσφραγισμένον σφραγῖσιν ἑπτά. καὶ εἶδον ἄγγελον ἰσχθρὸν κηρύσσοντα ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, Τίς ἄξιος ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον καὶ λῦσαι τὰς σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ; καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς οὐδὲ ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον οὔτε βλέπειν αὐτό. καὶ ἔκλαιον¹ πολύ, ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἄξιος εὑρέθη ἀνοῖξαι τὸ βιβλίον οὔτε βλέπειν αὐτό. καὶ εἷς ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων² λέγει μοι, Μὴ κλαῖε, ἰδοὺ ἐνίκησεν ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα³, ἡ ῥίζα Δαυίδ, ἀνοῖξαι⁴ τὸ βιβλίον καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ.

And I saw in the right hand of the one sitting on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look at it. And I began weeping much, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look at it. And one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, conquered in order to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

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Vocab:

ἔσωθεν – adv.: within, inside

ὄπισθεν – adv.: behind, at the back

κατεσφραγισμένον – perf. mid./pass. ptc. nom./acc. sg. neut., from κατασφραγίζω: to seal

σφραγῖσιν – dat. pl. fem.: seal

ἐνίκησεν – aor, act. ind. 3 sg., from νικάω: to conquer

λέων – nom. sg. masc.: lion

φυλῆς – gen. sg. fem.: tribe

ῥίζα – nom. sg. fem.: root, origin

____________________

Notes:

¹ A good example of what may be the ingressive imperfect.

² Partitive use of the genitive. The preposition ἐκ makes this clear, and is also a good example of the supersession of many of the Classical nuances of the naked case by the more explicit preposition + case construction in Koinē. The preposition here need not be translated.

³ A couple things here: (1) another partitive use of the genitive, with the same ἐκ + genitive construction as above; (2) the second article nominalizes the prepositional phrase which follows it, basically turning the prepositional phrase into an adjective in the second attributive position.

⁴ Probably an infinitive of purpose; maybe an infinitive of result.

Theophilux.com

Just a quick note to say that I am now a contributor for theophilux.com, so I’ll probably be posting more there and less here from now on. I’ll use this blog for more technical posts and the NT Greek readings, which I plan to resume shortly.

If you want, check out the series I’ve started over at theophilux.com on how to choose a Bible translation (Part I and Part II). So far, it’s generated some decent discussion. More than my posts here usually generate, anyway.

More Pics from Israel

The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth

Megiddo

This is the tunnel down into ancient Megiddo’s water system. These water systems are really pretty amazing.

A model of the ancient city at Megiddo. I forget which period this is.

Here are the remains of the stables at Megiddo. These stone feeding troughs, or mangers, are probably like what Jesus would have been laid in.

The Arbel Cliffs

This is the ancient village of Magdal, the home of Mary Magdalene, viewed from the top of the Arbel Cliffs.

Galilee

Me standing on top of the cliffs above Galilee. The view is unspeakably beautiful.

We have also visited Dan, Hazor, Arad, Lachish, Tel el Hesi, Avdat, Makhtesh Ramon, Jerusalem, and hiked the Zihn Wilderness. Too bad I broke my camera, though, so I won’t have any pictures until after I get back into the US and exchange pictures with my colleagues. Perhaps I’ll post some of them in a couple of weeks after I get them, but this is all for now.