Matthew 20:24, Mark 10:41

A couple weeks ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 23 March 2015:

The reading was Mark 10:35-45.  I'm pretty sure that Dr. Feiertag reads the NIV, where verse 41 is translated as "When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John."  I was following along in my French New Testament, where this verse is rendered as "Les dix, ayant entendu cela, commencèrent à s'indigner contre Jacques et Jean."  Where the NIV has "indignant with" and the ESV has "indignant at," the French translation has "s'indigner contre."  (In Greek, the preposition here is περὶ.)  In French, contre also means against.  This carries a greater weight than de (the other preposition, meaning with or at, used with this verb), so in this particular translation, there's a greater sense of opposition between the ten disciples and the two brothers.

Matthew 20:24 is comparable.

My French translation has:  "Les dix, ayant entendu cela, furent indignés contre les deux frères."

The ESV has:  "And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers."

And the NIV has:  "When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers."

Genesis 3:15

When I went to church a couple weeks ago, the pastor referenced Genesis 3:15 in his sermon.  I noticed that the second half of the verse has a chiastic structure:  "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."  The study notes in my Bible explain that "This points to Christ and His defeat of Satan on the cross."  It may be coincidental, but even the structure here (the cross form of the chiasm) seems to point to Christ's crucifixion.  I lookt up this verse in the STEP Bible, and while the possessive adjectives for "head" and "heel" are implied, this structure is present in the Hebrew too.

Luke 15:11-32 (The Prodigal Son)

The Gospel reading last week was Luke 15:1-3, 11-32, the parable of the prodigal son.  While watching Worship Anew, I realized that the father acts the same way toward both of his sons.  There's a sort of parallelism between "while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him" (verse 20) and "His father came out and entreated him" (verse 28).  Clearly, the father cares for both of his sons, and while the situations are different, he goes out to each of them and shows his compassion.

Acts 9:1-3

I've been reading Acts lately and noticed a feature specific to the ESV in Acts 9:1-3:

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

In this translation, there seems to be a contrast between "the Way" in verse 2 and "his way" in verse 3.  Saul is persecuting the church, so his "way" (in a more metaphorical sense) is opposed to "the Way."

When I lookt up the Greek, however, I discovered that these two words are unrelated.  The "Way" in verse 2 is ὁδοῦ, and - if I understand it aright - the whole construction "he went on his way" in verse 3 comes from the verb πορεύω.

Genesis 22:7-8

Recently, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 24 February 2015.

The text was Genesis 22:1-14.  I was following along in the Latin Vulgate and noticed that where the ESV has "the lamb for a burnt offering" in verses 7 and 8, the Vulgate has "victima holocausti."  Instead of "lamb" or "goat" specifically (which is also what's in the Hebrew:  הַשֶּׂה), the Vulgate has a more generic word that means "victim" or "sacrifice."

There are some elements in this account that prefigure the crucifixion of Christ (who is called "the Lamb of God" in John 1:29).  Because the Vulgate uses a more generic term for "sacrifice," the metaphorical language is stripped away, and these connections may be a bit easier to see.

Genesis 7:17-19

After running across a reference to Genesis 1 in Les Misérables recently, I've been reading chapters of Genesis.  I noticed that in the ESV, successive verses in Genesis 7:17-19 have more adverbs:

17 The flood continued forty days on the earth.  The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.  18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters.  19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.

First, there's just a subject and a verb ("the waters increased"); then there's one adverb ("the waters prevailed and increased greatly"); then there are two adverbs ("the waters prevailed so mightily").  The increasing number of adverbs reflects the rising level of the waters.

I lookt up this passage in the STEP Bible and found that this feature is also present in the Hebrew.  מְאֹד is used once in verse 18 and twice in succession (for a greater degree) in verse 19.

Luke 6:20-26

On Worship Anew last week, the Gospel reading was Luke 6:17-26.  In verses 20-26, Jesus presents some contrasts:  "Blessed are you who are poor" (verse 20) but "woe to you who are rich" (verse 24), "blessed are you who are hungry now" (21) but "woe to you who are full now" (25), "blessed are you who weep now" (21) but "woe to you who laugh now" (25), and "blessed are you when people hate you" (22) but "woe to you when all people speak well of you" (26).

I was following along in my French New Testament, and I noticed that in that particular translation, these opposites have a sharper contrast because the French words for "blessed" ("heureux") and "woe" ("malheur") come from the same root.

Ecclesiastes 1:5

Earlier this month, I read a few chapters of Ecclesiastes, and I realized something about the structure of Ecclesiastes 1:5:  "The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises."  The verse starts and ends with the sun's rising, so even the structure of just this one verse illustrates the vanity that the preacher talks about.

Genesis 22:17

One of the readings from the Christmas Eve service I attended last month was from Genesis 22.  I noticed a small feature in verse 17 where God says to Abraham, "'I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.'"

Taken together, the images in these comparisons encompass a wide sweep (the stars above and the sand below), and this breadth mirrors the abundance of Abraham's offspring.

Matthew 16:23

About a month ago, I watched the CUW chapel service from 3 September 2014:

The reading was Matthew 16:21-25, and while I was following along in my French translation, I noticed a small feature in verse 23:  "Mais Jésus, se retournant, dit à Pierre:  Arrière de moi, Satan!  tu m'es en scandale; car tes pensées ne sont pas les pensées de Dieu, mais celles des hommes."  In the ESV, this is rendered as:  "But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan!  You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'"

In the French translation, "you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man" (οὐ φρονεῖς τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀλλὰ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων) is rendered as "tes pensées ne sont pas les pensées de Dieu, mais celles des hommes."  Literally, this is "your thoughts are not the thoughts of God but those of men," and this echoes Isaiah 55:8:  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD."

Psalm 16:6

A couple months ago, the Psalm in church was Psalm 16.  I noticed a small feature in verse 6:  "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."

The phrase "pleasant places" has both alliteration and syllabic balance, and the euphony of these features matches the meaning of the words.

Luke 18:9-14

When I read a few chapters of Luke a couple months ago, I noticed some contrasts in Luke 18:9-14, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  There's an obvious contrast in what these two men are saying as they pray, but I noticed that this contrast is also shown in how they speak.

The Pharisee's prayer:

God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.

The tax collector's prayer:

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

In each clause of the Pharisee's prayer, the subject is "I."  He uses it five times.  In the tax collector's prayer, the personal pronoun is used only once and then in the dative case ("to me").  Even in the language, then, it's illustrated that the Pharisee thinks primarily of himself while the tax collector has humility.

There's also a contrast in the length of these prayers.  The tax collector's prayer is short and to the point, while the Pharisee (to borrow a description from Matthew 6:7) seems to "think that [he] will be heard for [his] many words."