Luke 16:19-31

A year ago, Luke 16:19-31 was the Gospel reading on Worship Anew (28 September 2025, the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost), and hearing it again gave me a deeper understanding of two facets of the story.

The initial descriptions of the rich man and Lazarus match in an inverted sort of way, with contrasting qualities in corresponding categories (economic standing, physical appearance, and eating), and yet a meaningful imbalance still exists.  The pairs "rich" & "poor" and "feasted sumptuously every day" & "desired to be fed" are complete opposites, but the rich man's appearance is described in more detail than Lazarus'.  He "was clothed in purple and fine linen" while Lazarus was "covered in sores."  These two elements (πορφύραν καὶ βύσσον) surpass Lazarus' one (εἱλκωμένος) and show the rich man's abundance.

I'd noticed before that after the rich man is condemned to Hades, he persists in thinking that Lazarus is beneath him, wishing to give him the tasks of a servant:  first to cool the rich man's tongue and then to warn the rich man's brothers.  Hearing the story again, I realized that even the way the rich man speaks illustrates this point of view.  He never talks to Lazarus directly; instead, he sends all of his requests through Abraham, even though Lazarus is right next to Abraham:  "he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue... send him to my father's house... so that he may warn them.'"  The rich man ignored Lazarus when he was at his gate, and he continues to keep him at a distance even in his torment.

Psalm 146:9

Almost a year ago, the Psalm on Worship Anew (28 September 2025, the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost) was Psalm 146, and I noticed a chiastic structure in the latter half of verse 9 (in the ESV):

he [the LORD] upholds

the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked

he brings to ruin.

Such a structure, which isn't in the Hebrew, emphasizes the contrasts between "upholds" and "brings to ruin" and "the widow and the fatherless" and "the wicked."

The NKJV seems to go even a step further:

He relieves

the fatherless and widow;

but the way of the wicked

He turns upside down.

The phrase "turns upside down" highlights the inverted nature of the chiasm.

Psalm 78:29

When I read Psalm 78 in German, I noticed a small feature in verse 29:

Da aßen sie und wurden sehr satt; und was sie verlangte, gewährten er ihnen.

In the ESV, this is:

And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.

The repetition involved in the alliteration in "sehr satt" and in the consonance in the corresponding "well filled" lends a slight sense of degree.

Psalm 2:3

When the Daily Dose of Septuagint went over Psalm 2:3-4, I also read the passage in German and noticed a minor feature in verse 3 in that translation.

"Lasset uns zerreißen ihre Band und von uns werfen ihre Stricke!"

"Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." [ESV]

The structure of the German differs slightly, resulting in a somewhat greater distance (syntactially if not spatially) between "uns" (us) and "ihre Stricke" (their cords) and consequently emphasizing this separation.  Retaining the word order, it's something like "Let us... from us throw their cords."

Mark 13:26

As I was stumbling through Mark 13 in Gothic about a year ago, I found yet an-other instance of a feature I've been noticing a lot.

Jah þan gasaiƕand sunu mans qimandan in milhmam miþ mahtái managái jah wulþáu.

In the ESV, this is:

"And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."

The repetition involved in the alliterative "mahtái managái" ("great power") lends a slight sense of degree.

Psalm 69:13

When I read Psalm 69 in German, I noticed a small feature in verse 14:

Ich aber bete zu dir, HERR, zur Zeit der Gnade; Gott, nach deiner großen Güte erhöre mich mit deiner treuen Hilfe.

In the NKJV, this is verse 13:

But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation.

The repetition involved in the alliterative "großen Güte" (less concentrated but still present in the NKJV's "the multitude of Your mercy") provides a slight sense of this great abundance.

The Latin Vulgate (in which this is Psalm 68:14) also exhibits this alliteration:

mea autem oratio ad te Domine tempus reconciliationis est Deus in multitudine misericordiae tuae exaudi me in veritate salutaris tui

The high number of syllables in "multitudine misericordiae" also lends a sense of amount, especially because the surrounding words have far fewer.

Genesis 2:18

When the Daily Dose of Septuagint went over Genesis 2:18, I had a small realization about "it is not good."

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." [ESV]

As God surveys creation in the previous chapter, "it was good" (or some variation of it) appears seven times (in verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31).  Because the negated "it is not good" in 2:18 breaks this established pattern, it stands out more and seems to receive some emphasis.

Genesis 6-9

Years ago, I noticed the resemblance between the words arca (ark) and arcus (bow or rainbow) in the Latin Vulgate's account of the flood in Genesis 6-9.  (When the Daily Dose of Septuagint went through these chapters recently, I was following along in Italian and noticed that this holds true there, too:  arca and arco, respectively.)  I thought that this similarity was significant, but it took me a long time to sort it out.

The resemblance between these words helps to highlight that the ark and the rainbow have the same basic function:  showing God's dedication to His people.

First, the ark acts as the literal means of deliverance from the flood for Noah and his family specifically:

"But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you." (Genesis 6:18)

After the flood, the rainbow represents a broader covenant with God:

"I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."  And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."  (Genesis 9:11-13)

Psalm 5:7

The Daily Dose of Hebrew and the Daily Dose of Aramaic went over Psalm 5:8 (verse 7 in the English) about half a year apart, but in this post, I'm combining minor points I noticed from each time.

וַאֲנִי בְּרֹב חַסְדְּךָ אָבוֹא בֵיתֶךָ אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶה אֶל־הֵֽיכַל־קָדְשְׁךָ בְּיִרְאָתֶֽךָ׃

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.  [NKJV]

In referencing other translations, I found a couple in which בְּרֹב חַסְדְּךָ is rendered as an alliterative phrase (even more concentrated than the NKJV's "in the multitude of Your mercy") and realized that the repetition involved in this alliteration provides a slight sense of this abundance.

"große Güte" ("great goodness") in German (in which this is also verse 8):

Ich aber darf in dein Haus gehen durch deine große Güte und anbeten vor deinem heiligen Tempel in deiner Furcht.

"multitudine misericordiae" ("multitude of mercy") in Latin (also verse 8):

ego autem in multitudine misericordiae tuae introibo in domum tuam adorabo ad templum sanctum tuum in timore tuo

Additionally, the high number of syllables (eleven) in the phrase "multitudine misericordiae" hints at this great amount, especially in contrast to the surrounding words, which have only one or two each.

---&---

In a way, the placement of the phrase בְּרֹב חַסְדְּךָ before the verb אָבוֹא (rendered as "I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter..." in the ESV) indicates that receiving God's steadfast love necessarily precedes entering His house.  I wouldn't usually use word order as the basis for an argument, but what the Psalmist describes here seems analogous to Luther's explanation of the third article of the Apostles' Creed:  "By nature I am spiritually blind, dead, and an enemy of God, as the Scriptures teach; therefore, 'I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him'"; consequently, "The Holy Spirit 'has called me by the Gospel,' that is, He has invited and drawn me by the Gospel to partake of the spiritual blessings that are mine in Christ."  Likewise, without the invitation of God's steadfast love, the Psalmist would remain outside, with "the boastful," "all evildoers," "those who speak lies," and "the bloodthirsty and deceitful man" in the preceding verses.

Matthew 15:26

When the Daily Dose of Greek went over Matthew 15:26, I noticed the verbs λαβεῖν (to take) and βαλεῖν (to throw).

Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· οὐκ ἔστιν καλὸν λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυναρίοις.

And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." [ESV]

That the stems of these two verbs are inversions of each other (λαβ- and βαλ-) highlights their opposite meanings to a degree.

Psalm 67:4

In my German translation of Psalm 67, I noticed the phrase "recht richtest" in verse 5:

Die Völker freuen sich und jauchzen, daß du die Menschen recht richtest und regierst die Völker auf Erden.  Sela.

In the ESV, this is verse 4:

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.  Selah

As I've noted before with similar phrases, the repetition involved in the consonance of "recht richtest" (rendered as "judge... with equity" in the ESV) provides a sense of orderliness.

Genesis 1:28

When the Daily Dose of Septuagint went over (the first half of) Genesis 1:28, I noticed in particular what's rendered as "Be fruitful and multiply" in the ESV.

And God blessed them.  And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it..."

The meanings of "be fruitful" and "multiply" overlap, so this expression is a bit redundant, yet this redundancy matches the meaning.