Psalm 115:5-7

Earlier this month, I read Psalm 115, and after looking up the original Hebrew, I discovered that it has the same sort of construction as Psalm 135, which I wrote about a couple months ago.  Here are verses 5-7 in the ESV:

5 They [the idols of the nations] have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.  6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.  7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.

In the Hebrew, the repeated construction is "mouth to them," "eyes to them," and so on:

פֶּֽה־לָהֶם וְלֹא יְדַבֵּרוּ עֵינַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יִרְאֽוּ׃

אָזְנַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יִשְׁמָעוּ אַף לָהֶם וְלֹא יְרִיחֽוּן׃

Verse 7 is a bit different, though; here, there are pronominal suffixes on "hands" and "feet":

יְדֵיהֶם ׀ וְלֹא יְמִישׁוּן רַגְלֵיהֶם וְלֹא יְהַלֵּכוּ לֹֽא־יֶהְגּוּ בִּגְרוֹנָֽם׃

In both constructions, the idols' possession of these body parts is described without using any verbs, and consequently, the only verbs in these verses are the negated actions that the idols cannot perform.  They "do not speak," "do not see," and so on.  Like the lifeless idols themselves, there is only inactivity in these verses.

Genesis 3:12

Earlier this month, I read Genesis 3 and realized the significance of the pleonasm in verse 12:  "The man said, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.'"  This is also in the Hebrew:

וַיֹּאמֶר הָֽאָדָם הָֽאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה עִמָּדִי הִוא נָֽתְנָה־לִּי מִן־הָעֵץ וָאֹכֵֽל׃

Adam is trying to shift the blame away from himself and onto Eve, and this unnecessary pronoun in his explanation is an-other tactic he uses to try to divert God's attention.

Ecclesiastes 3:20

A couple weeks ago, I lookt up Ecclesiastes 3:20:  "All go to one place.  All are from the dust, and to dust all return" [ESV].  The second half has a chiastic structure:

All are

from the dust,

and to dust

all return.

To some degree, this mirrors the "return[ing]" mentioned in the verse itself.  It's a bit inverted in relation to the meaning, though; the clause starts and ends with "all," but it's "to dust" (the middle element in the chiasm) that "all return."

The NIV translation is similar ("all come from dust, and to dust all return"), but this structure isn't present in the Hebrew:

הַכֹּל הָיָה מִן־הֶֽעָפָר וְהַכֹּל שָׁב אֶל־הֶעָפָֽר

It's more prosaic:  "All are from the dust, and all return to the dust."

Psalm 126:5

Last month, I fell behind in watching Worship Anew.  While watching the program from 17 December (the third Sunday in Advent) last week, I was following along in the Latin Vulgate and noticed yet an-other chiastic structure highlighting opposites, this time in Psalm 126:5:  "qui seminant in lacrimis in exultatione metent."  This is the same basic word order as the original Hebrew, too:

הַזֹּרְעִים בְּדִמְעָה בְּרִנָּה יִקְצֹֽרוּ׃.

In the ESV, this is translated as "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" but in the original word order, it's more like "Those who sow in tears in shouts of joy will reap."

Psalm 5:7, 10

Recently, I started over in my daily reading of Psalms and Proverbs.  I had been alternating between the ESV and the NIV, but this time, I'm reading the NKJV, which I'm not very familiar with.  Last week, I read Psalm 5 and noticed a contrast I'd never seen before.  In verse 7, the Psalmist writes, "I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy," and in verse 10, he says, "cast them [his enemies] out in the multitude of their transgressions."  The word multitude (בְּרֹב in Hebrew) is used in both verses, which highlights the contrast between "come into" and "cast... out" and between "Your mercy" and "their transgressions."

Matthew 4:24-25

Last month, I watched the Daily Dose of Greek videos on Matthew 4:24-25:

24 Καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ εἰς ὅλην τὴν Συρίαν· καὶ προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ πάντας τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας, ποικίλαις νόσοις καὶ βασάνοις συνεχομένους, [καὶ] δαιμονιζομένους καὶ σεληνιαζομένους καὶ παραλυτικούς· καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν αὐτούς.

25 καὶ ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ ὄχλοι πολλοὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ Δεκαπόλεως καὶ Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ Ἰουδαίας καὶ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου.

24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, [and] those oppressed by demons, [and] epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.

25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

I noticed that both verses exhibit polysyndeton (the repeated καὶ), although one conjunction is in brackets in Dr. Plummer's Greek text and some are omitted in the ESV translation.  In these contexts, the polysyndeton provides a sense of abundance and variety.

This feature is also present in the Latin Vulgate:

24 et abiit opinio eius in totam Syriam et obtulerunt ei omnes male habentes variis languoribus et tormentis conprehensos et qui daemonia habebant et lunaticos et paralyticos et curavit eos

25 et secutae sunt eum turbae multae de Galilaea et Decapoli et Hierosolymis et Iudaea et de trans Iordanen

In my French translation, there's a repeated "de" ("from") instead of "and" in verse 25:

Une grande foule le suivit, de la Galilée, de la Décapole, de Jérusalem, de la Judée, et d'au delà du Jourdain.

This is anaphora rather than polysyndeton, but the resulting effect (a sense of abundance and variety) is the same.

Proverbs 11:6

Earlier this month, I read Proverbs 11, and I noticed a contrast in verse 6:  "The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust" [ESV].  Obviously, there's a difference between "the upright" and "the treacherous," but to some degree, this contrast is also shown by the voices of the verbs:  "delivers" is in the active voice while "are taken captive" is in the passive voice.

I don't know enough about Hebrew to comment on the original forms, but this distinction is also present in my German translation:

Die Gerechtigkeit der Frommen wird sie erretten*; aber die Verächter werden gefangen durch ihre Gier.

And in the Latin Vulgate:

iustitia rectorum liberabit* eos et in insidiis suis capientur iniqui

I also noticed how appropriate the passive voice is for being "taken captive."  In the same way that the subject in a passive voice construction is acted upon, those who are captive lack agency.

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*The German and Latin verbs are both in the future tense:  righteousness "will save" or "will free" the upright.

Psalm 135:16-17

Last month, I read Psalm 135.  I think I'd been dimly aware of something in verses 16-17, but while wondering about the original Hebrew text, I realized what it was and then confirmed this by looking at the text via the Step Bible:

פֶּֽה־לָ֭הֶם וְלֹ֣א יְדַבֵּ֑רוּ עֵינַ֥יִם לָ֝הֶ֗ם וְלֹ֣א יִרְאֽוּ׃

אָזְנַ֣יִם לָ֭הֶם וְלֹ֣א יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ אַ֝֗ף אֵין־יֶשׁ־ר֥וּחַ בְּפִיהֶֽם׃

In the ESV, these verses are translated as:

16 They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;

17 they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

What's translated as "they have..." in the ESV doesn't actually contain a verb in the Hebrew.  The phrases are "mouth to them," "eyes to them," and "ears to them."  The only verbs in these clauses are negated, so just like the lifeless idols, there's only inactivity in these verses.

Jeremiah 10:14

A couple months ago, I went over Jeremiah 10:14 in the weekend edition of the Daily Dose of Hebrew:

In the ESV, this is "Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them."

I think it may be significant that the word אָדָם is used rather than אִישׁ.  Both mean man, but אָדָם is related to אֲדָמָה, which means ground or soil, so there may be a slightly disparaging tone here, as if to say that the man who makes idols is like dirt.

Luke 14:8, 11

A couple months ago, I read Luke 14 and noticed two features.

I think it may be significant that the passive voice is used in verse 8:  "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast..." [ESV].  It's also a passive in the Greek (ὅταν κληθῇς ὑπό τινος εἰς γάμους), the Latin Vulgate ("cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias..."), and my German and French New Testaments ("Wenn du von jemandem zur Hochzeit geladen bist..." "Lorsque tu seras invité par quelqu'un à des noces...").  To some degree, this matches the mindset that Jesus advocates:  the man in the parable shouldn't take a seat of honor for himself, but he may accept a higher seat if one is given to him.  There's a connection between the passive voice, where the subject is acted upon, and this humble acceptance.

The other thing I noticed is that, like Matthew 23:12, verse 11 contains a chiasm illustrating an inversion:  "'For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'"  This is also in the Greek (ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται), the Latin Vulgate ("Quia omnis qui se exaltat humiliabitur et qui se humiliat exaltabitur"), and my German and French New Testaments ("Denn wer sich selbst erhöht, der soll erniedrigt werden; und wer sich selbst erniedrigt, der soll erhöht werden" "Car quiconque s'élève sera abaissé, et quiconque s'abaisse sera élevé").

Ephesians 6:18

A couple months ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 7 September 2018:

The reading was Ephesians 6:10-20, and as I was following along in the Latin Vulgate, I noticed assonance in verse 18:

per omnem orationem et obsecrationem orantes omni tempore in Spiritu et in ipso vigilantes in omni instantia et obsecratione pro omnibus sanctis

Here's the ESV translation, with the initial letters of the corresponding words underlined:

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints

When I lookt up the Greek text, I found that it similarly exhibits alliteration:

διὰ πάσης προσευχῆς καὶ δεήσεως προσευχόμενοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ἐν πνεύματι καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ ἀγρυπνοῦντες ἐν πάσῃ προσκαρτερήσει καὶ δεήσει περὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων

The Greek emphasizes different words, however:

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints

In both texts, though, the repetition of a particular sound (whether through assonance or alliteration) provides a sense of entirety or constancy that the text itself mentions:  "at all times... with all prayer and supplication... for all the saints."

Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:8, Mark 7:6

A few months ago, I watched the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service from 28 August 2018:

The text was Isaiah 29:11-19.  I was following along in the Latin Vulgate and noticed part of verse 13:  "cor autem eius longe est a me."  In the ESV, this is "while their hearts are far from me."  In both of these, as it is in the Hebrew (although with far fewer words:  וְלִבּ֖וֹ רִחַ֣ק מִמֶּ֑נִּי), "heart" ("cor") is about as distant as possible from "me" ("me"), so the meaning of the clause is illustrated in its structure.  The conjunction in Latin ("autem") is post-positive, so "cor" and "me" are at completely opposite ends of the clause.

The next day, I watched the CUW chapel service from 29 August.  The reading then was Mark 7:1-8, in which Jesus quotes this passage from Isaiah.  Part of verse 6 exhibits the same feature:  "cor autem eorum longe est a me."  It's also present in the ESV ("but their heart is far from me") and in the Greek (ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν πόρρω ἀπέχει ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ).  This clause is identical in Matthew 15:8.

I also referenced my German and French New Testaments.  This feature is present in both Matthew 15:8 and Mark 7:18, where the clauses are identical:  "aber ihr Herz ist fern von mir" and "mais son cœur est éloigné de moi."