Jeremiah 9:23

A couple months ago, I watched the Daily Dose of Hebrew video on Jeremiah 9:23, which is 9:22 in the Hebrew versification:

כֹּה ׀ אָמַר יְהוָה אַל־יִתְהַלֵּל חָכָם בְּחָכְמָתוֹ וְאַל־יִתְהַלֵּל הַגִּבּוֹר בִּגְבֽוּרָתוֹ אַל־יִתְהַלֵּל עָשִׁיר בְּעָשְׁרֽוֹ

Thus says the Lord:  "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches" [ESV]

The sentiment is completed in the next verse:  "'but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.'"

Tom Blanchard, the host of these weekend editions, notes the relationship between חָכָם (a "wise man") and חָכְמָתוֹ ("his wisdom"), between הַגִּבּוֹר ("the mighty man") and גְבֽוּרָתוֹ ("his might"), and between עָשִׁיר (a "rich man") and עָשְׁרֽוֹ ("his riches"), which the ESV retains.

Because these words are so closely related, there's almost a reflexive sense.  Although the wise man is boasting in his wisdom, the mighty man is boasting in his might, and the rich man is boasting in his riches, common to all is a man boasting in himself (what he possesses or what he's done).  These closely related words indicate the inward-looking nature that must be eschewed in favor of looking to God.  This contrast is also present in Psalm 146:  "3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.  4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.  5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever."

John 7:24

A couple months ago, I watched the Daily Dose of Latin video on John 7:24:

Dr. Flatt comes close to mentioning that, of course, the words "iustum iudicium iudicate" alliterate, and I realized that because of this alliteration, there's a sense in the Latin of the orderliness of a just judgement.  

In my German New Testament, this verse is:  "Richtet nicht nach dem, was vor Augen ist, sondern richtet gerecht."  To a lesser degree, the same feature is present here, although with consonance rather than alliteration:  "richtet gerecht."

John 20:26

A couple months ago, I watched the Daily Dose of Greek video on John 20:26:

Καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ πάλιν ἦσαν ἔσω οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ Θωμᾶς μετ᾽ αὐτῶν. ἔρχεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων καὶ ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον καὶ εἶπεν· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.  Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." [ESV]

I was surprised to discovered that the "was" in the clause "Thomas was with them" isn't present in the Greek; it's just "Θωμᾶς μετ᾽ αὐτῶν."  I had a couple thoughts about this, although I'll admit they may be a bit far-fetched.

Most of the translations I lookt at render it like the ESV above and supply an implied verb:

Thomas war bei ihnen

Thomas se trouvait avec eux

Thomas was with them [NIV]

The Latin Vulgate and the NKJV are the exceptions:

Thomas cum eis

Thomas with them

I think it's possible to see Thomas as part of the plural subject of the verb "were."  Put an-other way, it would be "his disciples and Thomas with them were inside...."  Granted, the "with them" is a bit redundant then, but if Thomas is included with the other disciples as the subject of the sentence, it provides something of a foreshadowing of his return to faith after seeing Jesus' wounds.  In grammatical structure and in faith, he's part of the group again.

Alternatively, the lack of an explicit verb for Thomas' being there mirrors his lack of faith.

Matthew 27:20

For about a year and a half now, I've been slowly working through New Testament Greek for Laymen by Michael Merritt, which I downloaded from the resources page of the Daily Dose of Greek website.  Two months ago, I lookt up Matthew 27:20, since it's one of the "verses for application" at the end of Chapter 13 "Aorist Active and Middle Indicative."

Οἱ δὲ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ἔπεισαν τοὺς ὄχλους ἵνα αἰτήσωνται τὸν Βαραββᾶν, τὸν δὲ Ἰησοῦν ἀπολέσωσιν.

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.  [ESV]

At first, I noticed only that - as I'd been noting with many other verses at the time - there's a chiastic structure that indicates opposites:  αἰτήσωνται τὸν Βαραββᾶν, τὸν δὲ Ἰησοῦν ἀπολέσωσιν  "to ask for Barabbas, Jesus to destroy."  By themselves, these two verbs don't mean opposite things, but they do in this context.

(For what it's worth, the same structure is also in the Latin Vulgate:  "Princeps autem sacerdotum et seniores persuaserunt populis ut peterent Barabban Iesum vero perderent")

In thinking about the verse some more, I realized that this chiastic structure may also indicate the thoughts of the chief priests and elders, namely that they want to crucify Jesus (the structure of the chiasm resembles the shape of the cross).  Right after this, in verses 22-23, the crowd, incited by the chief priests and elders, calls for Jesus' crucifixion.  The chiastic structure here may act as a sort of foreshadowing of this.

Genesis 12:3

This is becoming a somewhat regular occurrence, but a couple months ago, I found yet an-other chiastic structure that illustrates opposites.  In Genesis 12:3, God says to Abram, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (NIV).  The direct object follows the verb in the clause "I will bless those who bless you," but it precedes the verb in the clause "whoever curses you I will curse."  The inversion in the structure matches the opposites of blessing and cursing.

This is also present in the Hebrew ("וַאֲבָֽרֲכָה מְבָרְכֶיךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ אָאֹר"), but it's not in the Vulgate.