Amos 4:6-11

I followed along in the Daily Dose of Hebrew's series on Amos in its original run (from September 2017 to August 2018), but in August this year, I started going through it again.  This time, I'm copying out the verses.

A couple weeks ago, I watched the videos for Amos 4:7, and I noticed a small feature in the middle part of the verse, covered in the second video:

וְהִמְטַרְתִּי עַל־עִיר אֶחָת וְעַל־עִיר אַחַת לֹא אַמְטִיר

In the ESV, this is translated as "I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city."  The word order between the Hebrew clauses, however, is inverted so that it's more like:  "I would send rain on one city, and on another city I would send no rain."  That the structure is flipt from one clause to the other illustrates these opposites.

As I continued on in transcribing verses, I noticed that this section of Amos exhibits epistrophe.

6 "I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

7 "I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; 8 so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

9 "I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

10 "I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

11 "I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me," declares the LORD.

Each of these sections ends with "'yet you did not return to me,' declares the LORD."  I thought of three functions that the epistrophe has here.  In its most basic function, it illustrates simply the people's persistence in not returning.

It also illustrates an escalation.  After God's various actions, the response of not returning is the same, so in a way, this refrain of "'yet you did not return to me,' declares the LORD" acts as a measuring stick of all that God has done to get His people to return.

This epistrophe could even function as an example for the people.  In the same way that God keeps coming back to this same phrase, the people ought to return to Him.  It's as if He's demonstrating what to do even in the manner in which He describes how the people haven't done it.

Mark 6:8

I've been reading Mark lately, and a couple weeks ago, I noticed a small feature in 6:8:  "He [Jesus] charged them [the disciples] to take nothing for their journey except a staff - no bread, no bag, no money in their belts."

This list of items that the disciples are not to take exhibits asyndeton, and this lack of conjunctions mirrors their lack of provisions.

1 Peter 2:1

Originally, I wasn't going to write about this because I didn't think it was significant enough, but then I thought I would note it all the same.  A couple months ago, I read some chapters in 1 Peter.  The first verse of chapter 2 is "So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander."  The repeated "all" and repeated "and" lend a sense of entirety.

Matthew 25:31-46

Near the end of September, I read Matthew 25.  I noticed something about the verbs in verses 35-36 and 42-43, but it took me a few days before I fully realized what it was and could express it.

Jesus gives examples of the good works done by the righteous:  "35 '"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."'"  Verses 42-43 are similar but simply negated ("'"For I was hungry and you gave me no food..."'").

There are two general types of verbs here.  In each example, there's a stative verb ("was") and a dynamic verb ("gave," "welcomed," "clothed," "visited," and "came").  These dynamic verbs attract more attention, so even in just the types of verbs, the focus is on the works that the righteous do.

Psalm 135:6

A couple weeks ago, I was reading some Psalms and noticed a small feature in Psalm 135:6:  "Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps."  There's a vast geographic span in "in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps," and this great range mirrors the breadth of that "whatever."

John 10:11

I've been following along in the Daily Dose of Greek's series on John.  Last week, I noticed an interesting feature specific to the Latin Vulgate translation of John 10:11:  "Ego sum pastor bonus bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus."  In the Greek and in all of the other translations I'm following along in, the phrase "the good shepherd" is repeated in the same order:

ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων.

I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Ich bin der gute Hirte.  Der gute Hirte läßt sein Leben für die Schafe.

Je suis le bon berger.  Le bon berger donne sa vie pour ses brebis.

In the Latin, however, the first instance of "the good shepherd" is inverted so that "good" is a post-positive adjective:  "pastor bonus."  Such an inversion results in a chiasm:  "pastor bonus bonus pastor."  The word chiasm comes from Greek letter chi (χ), which resembles a cross.  Between this resemblance to a cross and the context here of the good shepherd's "lay[ing] down his life for the sheep," the Latin Vulgate translation seems to be hinting at the crucifixion.

Matthew 15:19

I've been reading Matthew lately, and I recently remembered something I'd previously noticed about Matthew 15:19 and figured I might as well write about it here.

Jesus says, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

The list of "murder, adultery, sexual immortality, theft, false witness, slander" specifies the "evil thoughts."  This may not be very significant, but this list follows the order of the Ten Commandments:  "You shall not murder.  You shall not commit adultery.  You shall not steal.  You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

Mark 13:6

Last week, I watched the Daily Dose of Greek video on Mark 13:6:

I'd always understood this verse and specifically the "'I am he!'" more prosaically, but looking at the original Greek made me realize that this "ἐγώ εἰμι" is a reference to Exodus 3:14 where God says to Moses, "'I AM WHO I AM.'"  Jesus takes up this title multiple times in John's Gospel ("I am the bread of life," "I am the Good Shepherd," "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," "I am the vine," et cetera), but the "many" described here claim it falsely.

Psalm 119:29-30

The Daily Dose of Hebrew has been going through Psalm 119 lately.  While following along in the Latin Vulgate, I noticed a feature in verses 29 and 30 that's obscured in the English translation and that I didn't catch either in watching the videos or while copying out the verses (because I turned pages in my notebook, these verses weren't next to each other).

In the ESV, these verses are translated as:  "29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!  30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me."

In the Vulgate, however, these verses appear as:

29 viam iniquitatis amove a me et lege tua miserere mei

30 viam veritatis elegi iudicia tua non sum oblitus

The formatting and word order here help to emphasize the contrast between the "false ways" (as in the Hebrew, it's singular in the Latin:  viam iniquitatis) in verse 29 and "the way of faithfulness" (viam veritatis) in verse 30.

Mark 12:30

When I watched the Daily Dose of Greek video for Mark 12:30 last week, I noticed a couple rhetorical features.

"'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'"

The repetition of "and" is polysyndeton.  I'm not sure if the repeated "all" is technically anaphora (it is near the beginning of each prepositional phrase, but I'm not sure if that's enough to fulfill the definition).  In any case, these repetitions give a sense of the totality of the self that one should devote to God.

John 8:34

I read John 8:34 in German last week before watching the corresponding Daily Dose of Greek video, and I noticed a small feature about it.  In English, it's "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.'"  The word order is a bit different in German, however:  "Jesus antwortete ihnen und sprach:  Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch:  Wer Sünde tut, der ist der Sünde Knecht."  Instead of "a slave to sin," the German has "of sin a slave" ("der Sünde Knecht").  The genitive precedes the predicate nominative it modifies, and this word order illustrates the subordinate position of the slave.

Isaiah 1:4

A couple weeks ago, I read Isaiah 1.  Part of verse four stuck out to me:  "Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly!  They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged."

Almost the entirety of the chapter exhibits either pairs of related items or parallel clauses.  In this verse, "sinful nation" parallels with "a people laden with iniquity," "offspring of evildoers" with "children who deal corruptly," and "they have forsaken the LORD" with "they have despised the Holy One of Israel."  The clause "they are utterly estranged," however, isn't paired or paralleled with anything, and this lack of a complement emphasizes the meaning.