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.

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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.