Updates to Seminary Papers

I have posted three new papers under the “Seminary Papers” page.

1. A paper on Isaiah 7:14 in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, which I wrote this Spring.
2. A paper on the land theme in the Biblical canon, which I wrote last Spring.  In this paper I attempt to trace in broad strokes the land promise in the OT and its subsequent fulfillments in the OT and its ultimate fulfillment in the NT.
3. I also linked to Adorare Mente’s publication of my paper on circumcision in Egypt and Israel.

I hope these papers interest you and stimulate your thinking in significant ways.

The English Standard Version on Daniel 7.27

The English Standard Version or the ESV is a very popular English translation and on the whole it is a very faithful translation of the original text.  However, they simply blundered on Daniel 7.27 and here is why.

The ESV: And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.’

The Aramaic Text: וּמַלְכוּתָה וְשָלְטָנָא וּרְבוּתָא דִּי מַלְכְוָת תְּחוֹת כָּל־שְמַיָּא יְהִיבַת לְעַם קַדִּישֵי עֶלְיוֹנִין מַלְכוּתֵהּ מַלְכוּת עָלַם וְכֹל שָלְטָנַיָּא לֵהּ יִפְלְחוּן וְיִשְתַּמְּעוּן׃

The Problem

The Ancient Versions on Isaiah 7.14

Fewer texts in the OT have been more important to the Christian church than Isaiah 7:14. Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho is a great example of the controversy between Jews and Christians over this crucial text.  However, Justin and Trypho argue on the basis of Greek versions alone, and the controversy never descends to the meaning of the Hebrew Bible.  The Versions listed below are translations from the Hebrew text, and I offer some commentary on each one.

The Peshitta’s Reading of Acts 16.34

Acts 16.34 contains that wonderful and glorious text of the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his household.  However, the question that has intrigued interpreters is who is believing according to this verse?  Is only the jailer believing? Or is the jailer believing together with his household?  Allow me to cite the Greek text of the verse then I will describe the exegetical difficulties, and finally I will provide the Syriac Peshitta reading of the verse and draw some conclusions from it.

Greek Text: αναγαγων τε αυτους εις τον οικον παρεθηκεν τραπεζαν και ηγαλλιασατο πανοικει πεπιστευκως τω θεω.

Difficulty: Does πανοικει (an adverb meaning “with the whole house”) modify the main verb ηγαλλιασατο or the participle πεπιστευκως?  As an adverb, grammatically it may modify either word.  What is the difference between the options? If it modifies the first verb, the translation is something like: “He rejoiced with his whole household because he believed in God.”  If it modifies the second, the text reads: He rejoiced because he believed in God–together with his whole household.  In the second translation the adverb indicates that the whole household believed with the jailer and were subsequently baptized according to 16.33.  The first translation has only the jailer believing, but the whole household is rejoicing with him and if the oikos argument is granted, this whole household is baptized apart from faith.

First Post

I’m a little under the pressure with trying to finish my last paper of the semester, but I plan to post on the Syriac Peshitta’s reading of Acts 16.34 in the next couple of days.  Paedobaptists and credobaptists don’t often look to the ancient versions to see what they have to say about ambiguous and syntactically difficult texts.  I don’t plan on getting into the debate, except to report the early evidence of this version and run .